The Journey of a Lifetime
by x.Janele.x
Summary: Discontinued. Voldemort has won the war, and Harry Potter is dead. Only one hope remains. The Order selects Ginny Weasley to travel back in time to change history. Will she succeed, or will a certain young man get in her way?
1. Prologue

The Journey of a Lifetime

Disclaimer: This story contains ideas created by J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.

Full summary: Voldemort has won the war, and Harry Potter is dead. There is no hope left for the wizarding world at all, except to acquiesce to Voldemort's rule. Only one hope remains, and that is to change history. Ginny Weasley is selected to travel back in time to when Voldemort was only a teenager, and attempt to prevent him from turning into the much feared Lord Voldemort. Will she succeed, or will a certain young man attempt to stop her? GW/TR. Takes place in Ginny's sixth year, and in Harry Potter's seventh. Rated M to just be safe, and for possible future mature themes. HBP and DH have never occurred, though there will be spoilers from those books.

Prologue:

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort's shriek of the Killing Curse rang in everyone's ears. A blast of shimmering green light erupted from his wand and hit Harry Potter directly in the chest.

There was absolute silence from the Order and Death Eaters alike. Time had suddenly frozen, and nothing could be heard except the slight rustling of the breeze in the solitary tree nearby. A dull thump sounded as Harry's lifeless body hit the ground, his glasses askew and his face contorted in a look of absolute horror. His usually bright emerald eyes were open and dull, staring off in the distance, unmoving.

Then, countless popping sounds were heard as all of the members of the Order of the Phoenix Apparated off the battlefield. Their only hope to destroy Voldemort once and for all, Harry, the prophesized one, was dead. Their last hope was gone. They had lost the war, and now the world would become a slave to Voldemort's malice.

The Death Eaters cheered as one man removed his mask, revealing long silver-blonde hair, gray eyes, and pointed features. He muttered a curse to bind all the wounded members of the Order who hadn't been able to escape, so that they could be used for later torture to expose the location of the Order's headquarters. Then, he turned, walked a few paces toward the lifeless boy wonder, and knelt at the feet of his lord, Voldemort.

"I have bound all surviving members of the resistance, my lord," he muttered, keeping his head bent, and his eyes directed toward the ground.

"Rise, Lucius," Voldemort told him in his soft, yet demanding voice that could give almost anyone goose bumps. Lucius rose to his feet slowly, but still did not look his master directly in the eye. "You have done well," Voldemort continued. "I put you in charge of the survivors. Do as you please with them, but you must extract some valuable information." Lucius bowed and retreated, knowing that he would be having a great deal of fun using his infamous techniques to extract information from the leftover scum.

Voldemort kicked Harry's body out of his way as he slowly prowled over the battlefield. There was still so much to be done before he was in complete control. All the members of the resistance had to be found and neutralized, and the many Muggles had to be made painfully aware of magic. Hogwarts also had to be turned into a school of the Dark Arts, and all the Mudbloods had to be kicked out or, even better, killed. He was thinking about keeping the Gryffindors, at a dear friend's request. She was his only weakness now that Harry was gone.

A slim, pale hand with painted red nails rested on his shoulder as he turned around to look at a beautiful woman. She looked to be no more than seventeen years old, but she had a gleam in her deep brown eyes that showed knowledge far beyond her years. She had thick, blood-red hair that cascaded down her back in rippling waves, and wore a long, black gown with red trimming that gave her the look of a powerful, yet cruel queen that could rule her country simply through will.

Her eyes evenly met Voldemort's glowing red ones. She opened her full, red lips to show pearly white teeth as she voiced a statement that seemed to freeze time itself. Her voice was smooth, yet cold, and could send a shiver down anyone's spine. "Tom," she said to Voldemort, "the time is approaching quickly. It should be happening soon."

0o0

As the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix Apparated back into headquarters, chaos ensued. The main cause of the fuss was a sixteen-year-old girl who was bawling her eyes out.

"Harry!" she wailed, her dark brown eyes clouded and puffy from crying. She had been at the battlefield for only a short time, running around and healing wounded allies, and had seen Harry Potter fall. "Harry! Come back!"

An elderly woman with her red-brown hair pulled back into a tight bun tried to comfort the crying girl, but it was no use. Her face was weary, and there were many lines under her eyes, accompanying the dark purple-black circles that showed because of an obvious lack of sleep. "Shush, Ginevra," she whispered softly, trying to soothe the girl. "Dear, it will be all right."

"No, it won't!" The girl, Ginevra, wailed. "I loved him so much! And he was our– our only hope!" She stumbled over her words, and then broke down into more sobs which shook her body. Harry Potter had been her first serious boyfriend. They had been dating for almost a year, and Harry was the only boyfriend of whom Ginevra's overprotective older brother, Ron, had approved. Ron had been killed in the war a few days ago, though, while running an important errand. He had been caught, to say the least, and he had been killed after several days of painful torture in what was believed to be the Malfoy Manor dungeons.

Ginevra, more commonly called Ginny, wiped her eyes with the left sleeve of her dirty, second-hand robes. "Professor McGonagall," she sniffled, trying hard not to break out into more sobs, "Is there any– any hope left?"

McGonagall stiffened visibly, pursed her lips, and then, as if deciding not to answer the question for fear of upsetting the teenager, sighed and left the room. She was going to get the poor girl a sleeping potion. She reentered the room a few short minutes later with a rather battered golden goblet full of a steaming, pale green liquid. "Drink this, dear." She said, forcing the goblet to Ginny's trembling lips.

Ginny drank it greedily, after she gained enough control of her mouth to not slosh the liquid over herself. It tasted slightly sweet, and felt like honey sliding down her throat. When she had finished, McGonagall slowly led her up to her bedroom, and helped her lay down on the small bed. Ginny closed her eyes tightly and buried herself under the blankets, though even more tears squeezed themselves out of her shut eyelids, and her body still shook with silent, racking sobs. Eventually, her body stilled, and she fell into a restive, yet dreamless sleep.

McGonagall sighed, a single tear trickling down her cheek as she quietly left the room. She quickly wiped it away, for she couldn't let herself show any signs of weakness. She had a lot of work to do, and knew that she would be awake until the early morning hours once again. She was put in charge of the Order of the Phoenix two months ago, as well as made its Secret-Keeper, after Albus Dumbledore's downfall at the hands of a unified Voldemort and Draco Malfoy. It had been a very sad time, but everyone had tried to move on as best as they could. At that time, they had still had hope, for Harry had been alive and the death of Voldemort had been possible. She wasn't intending to tell Ginny that there was no hope left, even if it was the truth. Only Harry could kill Voldemort, and only Voldemort could kill Harry. That was what the prophecy had stated, and prophecies were very rarely wrong.

McGonagall entered into her private office, one that used to belong to the greatest wizard of all time: Albus Dumbledore, and took a seat at the wooden desk in the corner. She extracted a piece of parchment from the top drawer, along with an almost empty bottle of ink and a quill. She pushed her cracked spectacles up the bridge of her nose and peered down at the parchment, trying to decide what options they had left, if any. Options A, B, and C were already scratched off, and D was now improbable. E and F were all that remained, and F, surrender, was out of the question. Her weary eyes focused on E. No matter how much she hated this choice, they really had no options left. She sighed softly and rubbed her eyes before she swept out of the office to find Hermione Granger. She had something important to discuss with the bright young woman.

0o0

Ginny awoke the next morning exactly where she had fallen asleep at Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Glancing at the wall clock, she saw that it was almost noon. She had really overslept, she realized with a soft pang of annoyance, just before the events of yesterday came flooding back to her. Harry was dead. A fresh wave of tears threatened to spill, but she held them back, knowing that today was a new day and she had to do all she could to make this day much more profitable than yesterday had been.

She slowly got out of bed and threw the blankets back into some semblance of tidiness, the whole while trying to avoid looking over at the window, where a picture of herself and Harry stood; it had been taken slightly over four months ago. Back then, she hadn't had to worry about anything other than what to wear the next day, or whether she had gotten an Outstanding or an Excellent on her Charms exam. She slowly ran a brush through her long red locks, and then proceeded to open the door and slip out of the room.

She made her way slowly down the winding staircase, subconsciously wondering where everyone was. Her silent questions were answered, however, when she noticed that the thick oak door that led to the conference room was closed tightly. She wasn't a fully qualified member of the Order yet, so she was not allowed inside. She quickly rummaged through her pockets until her fingers came into contact with one of Fred and George's Extendable Ears. She put it up to her ear, crossing her fingers that her mother had forgotten to charm the door to prevent eavesdroppers. Letting the other end of the ear maneuver toward the door, she could hear faint voices. With a surge of triumph at the door being so under protected, she maneuvered the ear underneath the door and listened to the conversation ensuing inside.

The first thing she heard was Severus Snape's voice addressing the crowd. "It is the only way! We have lost the war, there is no one left to kill the Dark Lord! Potter was our last chance, the prophecy said that! We can either all try and fail, or see if this will work! I will never surrender, and if any of you even consider it, I will see to it that you don't live to carry out the act!" He was shouting, obviously losing the little bit of patience he had. Knowing her Potions professor, Ginny realized that he would never give up, being as stubborn as he was, and that he might, in fact, even go through with his promise to kill people.

Remus Lupin could now be heard, his voice much more calm, although there was a strong undercurrent of anger. "I doubt you need to start threatening people, Severus. If it is the only way, however, then who will we send? We are all over the Hogwarts age! Even if I were at the appropriate age to go to Hogwarts as a student, I doubt he would accept me, considering my," a slight cough punctured his words, "furry little problem."

Slight chuckles from the others showed that not everyone was so intent on this plan, and that many knew dear Remus had been bitten by Fenrir Greyback, a notorious werewolf, in his youth.

"It would be dangerous!" piped in Molly Weasley, Ginny's mother. "We cannot risk anyone's life, and we need all the help we can get here, in the present!"

"It is the only way!" Snape roared. To say that he was angry was an understatement. "What else will we do? Just sit and let The Dark Lord destroy the world as we know it? No one can kill him! However, his former self could be killed! No one needs to try to change him, just kill him!"

"And how will killing him affect everything today?" Charlie Weasley, Ginny's second-eldest brother said, raising his voice to bring himself into the heated argument. "Lily and James Potter, the Longbottoms, the Malfoys, the Blacks, Harry himself, and countless more families will be changed! Can we risk changing all those families? Yes, I would absolutely love having all those who died alive again, but who knows what would happen if we meddle in time that much? Time-Turners are carefully regulated, and everyone knows that they are _dangerous_," he finished, slowing his words to accent 'dangerous'.

Rubeus Hagrid spoke up next, stomping his right foot and making the room vibrate to show his resolve. "I support Snape's idea, but I don' condone killin' 'im. Jus' get 'im expelled somehow, or never give 'im the chance to attend Hogwarts. I would be able to finish my education!"

Lupin directed his comments at Hagrid now. The undercurrent of anger in his voice, so easily apparent the last time he spoke, had subsided, though that may have been since he was addressing a friend, not a childhood enemy. "If you finish your education, then you may not have become the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, and have met Harry, Ron and Hermione… Can't you see how much doing anything at all will change everything about not only You-Know-Who, but everyone else in the world?"

Hermione's soft voice interrupted everyone as she brought herself to her feet, bringing all conversation and arguments to a halt. "Everyone, just think for a moment. I'm not saying that I support one idea or the other, but going back in time to change anything will have a drastic effect on anyone who ever met the person, in this case, probably the whole planet. Just changing Tom Riddle's outlook on life when he was a child will change everyone he ever spoke to. Killing him will drastically change everything even more than we need. If we all do agree to this, then how far back in time will we go? How long will we meddle in everything? Who will we change? If we all really want to do this in some way, then we should know that even setting foot back in time could, and most likely will, have an unfathomable effect. It may not even work. But if this is the only way possible, if it's the only way we can do anything, then I support taking the chance. I also support letting the selected person do as they see fit. If they want to kill him, so be it. If they want to try and change him, so be it. If they just want to interfere with his plans, so be it. So now, we will take a vote and end these rants that have brought us nowhere. Raise your hands if you support time travel."

McGonagall smiled softly to herself. Hermione definitely put a stop to any argument that had gone before. She knew that she could, and that was why she had selected one of her best former students to put plan E into discussion. She hadn't realized that Hermione could have done it so efficiently, and that made her even more proud. She hadn't even had to say one word at all throughout the heated discussions. Glancing around at the hands slowly being raised, she added hers.

Finally, the majority of hands were raised. Hermione nodded softly, her brilliant eyes scanning over the crowd to rest on her old Transfiguration professor, to whom she gave only the slightest of nods before looking back at the whole crowd, and continuing her speech. "Then we will be sending someone back in time to try to change history. What year and who we will send need to decided upon at this moment. Tom Riddle can't be too old, or he will already have his ideas carved in stone, and it will be impossible to change him. He also can't be too young or he will not associate with anyone we send, and even if he does, there will not be much of an impact. I propose some time during his fifth, or sixth year at Hogwarts. Sixth would be better, since the person we send will not be there during the time that the Chamber of Secrets was first opened. The selected person will not be in as much danger that way, either. So I propose one year after the Chamber of Secrets was opened, Tom Riddle's sixth year at Hogwarts. Does anyone have any objections?"

The remaining members of the Order were silent, glancing at their fellows out of the corners of their eyes and trying to see if anyone at all would object to what had been proposed. No one did, of course, since Hermione had taken pieces of everyone's ideas and put them all together into what would make almost anyone happy.

Hermione nodded finally after exchanging another glance with Minerva McGonagall, this one slightly worried. "Then we will have to send someone who could pass as a Hogwarts sixth year," she murmured, almost to herself. She knew who she had to propose, and had to compose herself before she could utter the words that would forever change that young girl's destiny. "I would go myself, but I am Muggle-born, so he wouldn't associate with me at all. We need either a half-blood or a pureblood student who could pass as a sixth year." She paused for a brief moment, her breath catching softly in her throat. "There is only one person I can think of. That person is Ginny Weasley. Does anyone object?"

Ginny gasped outside the door and tried to barge in, though it was locked. Instead, she started pounding on it with two fists, shouting, "I object!" repeatedly, as loudly as she could. After a bit of scuffling around inside, the door opened a crack, then fully, and showed Hermione standing directly on the other side.

Seeing the very face of someone who used to be her friend, Ginny seethed. "How could you even consider sending me without my even being there?" Ginny tried to shout, although her voice ended up coming out weak and tearful.

Hermione sighed softly, gazing at the younger girl. "Ginny," she said to her friend, "just think for a minute. You know Tom Riddle better than all of us because of your encounter with his diary, so you would know how to get close to him. You also fit the exact age we need, and are a pureblood." Not seeing any visible reaction from Ginny yet, Hermione tried a slightly different tactic. "You could also see Harry again, and meet your ancestors, see your grandfather Michael, see Dumbledore! Ginny, it would be a wonderful experience! It's our only option, now. Ginny, please!"

Ginny hesitated slightly, not failing to notice all the pleading faces behind Hermione in the doorway. "All right," she whispered softly, something inside her breaking open. "All right, I'll do it. I will." She was horribly afraid of Tom, due to her near-death experience with him when she was only eleven, but at the same time she desperately wanted to see him. He had continually told her how much he loved her, and a small eleven-year-old part of her wanted that same lavish attention from the handsome, brilliant young man.

Wiping away tears that she hadn't realized had started to fall; Ginny steeled her gaze and lifted her chin high. "When do I leave?"

0o0

To be continued…

Next chapter: Breaking vases and familiar faces.

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter. I had it posted up two years ago, but I deleted it recently and reposted, with a lot of editing. Two years of English class can do a lot for a person's writing style and language. I almost even used a bunch of my vocabulary words, but decided not to since people probably wouldn't know what they meant, lol. Well, leave a review please to let me know what you think. All reviewers get a thank you message in the next chapter. By the way, if you followed this fic the first time around then say so!


	2. Chapter 1: So It Begins

The Journey of a Lifetime

Disclaimer: This story contains ideas created by J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter One: So It Begins

Ginny stood in the small, dingy, and very dusty room. There was peeling and faded lime green paint on the walls, and the room smelled strongly of mold and years of collected dust and small dead insects. There was an old, rusty fireplace at the north end of the room, and some small chairs and tables against the walls, which looked like they would fall apart at only the slightest tap of a finger. Ginny stood in the exact center of the room, clutching at a leather drawstring bag that was magically enhanced with an undectable expanding charm. Positioned all around the room, and a few outside the door in the hallway, were all the members of the Order that Ginny had grown close to over the past few years.

After a moment of silent recollection and reflection for Ginny, McGonagall gave her the thumbs up sign from where she was positioned by the open door. Ginny knew exactly what the sign meant, and yet she hesitated for a brief moment before opening the bag and withdrawing a tiny golden hourglass on a thin gold chain. She had other possessions in the bag, such as her vault key, her wand, a quill, a bottle of ink, some parchment, and a small container of green Floo Powder. The others had felt it prudent for her to also pack Harry's old invisibility cloak and Marauder's Map, for her own safety.

"Seven prolonged turns should do it." McGonagall instructed Ginny softly once she had the time-turner held at the ready. Ginny nodded her head in answer and flipped the time-turner exactly as she was instructed. She looked up and saw everyone watching her earnestly, waiting for the effects of the time-turner to start to occur.

"Goodbye!" She called to them, as the room began to blur slightly, and tears started to stream down her face. She didn't care at all, and for a brief moment she wondered why it had come to this, and why her. She knew the answer though, and quickly starting whipping out her goodbyes, knowing that no matter how quickly she spoke she wouldn't get through everyone. "Goodbye Mum, Professor McGonagall, Hermione, Charlie, Hagrid, Professor Lupin…" she couldn't finish all the goodbyes, for the room began to spin slightly, the people disappeared rapidly, and she felt a strange pulling sensation in her lower abdomen.

The room spun faster and faster, and Ginny caught glimpses of people in the room, but they were gone so quickly she didn't even know if she had really seen them. Once she thought she spotted a young Sirius chasing what looked like a much younger version of Kreacher the house elf, but she couldn't be sure. It seemed to go on forever. Getting a little nauseous, Ginny closed her eyes tightly, willing it to just stop. She couldn't remember even hearing how far back in time people could go, but she hoped she wasn't pushing the limits. McGonagall would have told her if it was impossible, right? Ginny opened her eyes a little, but instantly shut them since the spinning seemed to be increasingly worsening. Just as she was about to open her eyes again, it all suddenly stopped, with a heart rendering lurch.

Ginny gasped loudly and stumbled forward, falling to her knees from the experience. The change in the room was immense. The old walls were now a new lime green color and they smelled of fresh paint. There was a shiny, hardwood floor on the ground, and a lovely intricately carved table and chairs were placed slightly to her right. A window with clear glass and bright embroidered curtains overlooked the street below, and with just a quick glance out of the window Ginny could tell it was a town of muggles. Even so, she was sure that this home belonged to the Black family, and that their fireplace was connected to the floo network.

Ginny stopped looking over the room hastily, remembering her instructions to leave as soon as possible, and walked over to the new fireplace. She whipped her wand out of her bag, placing the time-turner in its place, and muttered _"Incendio!"_ with her wand pointed at the fireplace that conveniently had dry logs sitting inside of it. A small fire erupted in the fireplace, and Ginny hoped that the owners wouldn't realize that someone had lit a fire and had been inside their house. Ginny rummaged through her bag again and pulled out the container of Floo Powder. She emptied half of the contents into the fire, which roared up and turned into a vibrant shade of emerald green. _Harry's eyes_, Ginny thought with a twinge of remorse, _the fire is the same color as Harry's eyes… _With an audible sigh she stepped into the fire.

The flames tickled her gently, licking her with their tongues of fire, but not burning or being unpleasant. It wasn't overly hot like a normal fire, just mildly warm, the perfect temperature in any kind of weather. The ash swirled around her feet then settled back down at the bottom as she spoke loudly and clearly, "The Leaky Cauldron."

The familiar sensation of swirling returned, but Ginny used Floo Powder often back at home so she was familiar with it. Lucky for her, Floo Powder had been invented a long time ago, in 1223 by Ignatia Wildsmith, and was widely used as a means of travel even during these years, so no one would look at her suspiciously. She was even wearing a new set of plain black robes, and had been assured and reassured that no one would think her strange, in the wizarding world, at least. She spotted the correct fireplace through the swirling ash finally, and braced herself as she stumbled out into the dimly lit pub she knew so well.

Even though she knew it so well, The Leaky Cauldron was a little different than what she remembered. The floors weren't as grimy, the tables looked newer, and portraits of similar looking people lined the upper walls. As Ginny glanced at them she realized that they must be the owners of the pub and inn; they all had the same sandy blonde hair, high cheekbones, and hazel colored eyes. Noticing her glance, most of them smiled and waved at her enthusiastically. They even closely resembled Tom, the bartender of the Leaky Cauldron that she was familiar with in the present time.

As she stepped farther into the room, she noticed a young man looking at her curiously. He was behind the counter at the bar, and was holding a grimy rag that he was using to wipe off the counter. He had the sandy blonde hair that was prominent in the portraits, and Ginny couldn't help but wonder whether he was the father or grandfather of the bartender in her own time. She let her eyes scan the crowd of people absently, but they stopped abruptly on a young man, about sixteen-years-old, with black hair. Ginny would recognize him anywhere, even without seeing his face. He was the exact same young man who she had been hopelessly in love with during her first year at Hogwarts, the exact same young man who had shattered her heart and almost killed her, as well. Unable to help herself, she let out a startled gasp and took an involuntarily step backward, bumping into a small, and very unsteady table.

The flower vase that had been resting at the edge of the table fell to the ground and shattered loudly. The single rose that had been inside it fell out of the vase and the water pooled at one spot on the floor, making a rather large puddle for such a small vase. Every eye in the building was suddenly on Ginny, who had been trying not to draw too much attention to herself. She gulped; large crowds didn't make her nervous, it was just the fact that Tom was in the building that frightened her. Tom turned, and Ginny's eyes involuntarily locked on his. Those creepy, yet irresistible emerald eyes that could always draw her in.

"Hey, watch it!" The man behind the counter called out, throwing down his rag and starting toward her. Ginny didn't have a second thought; she turned and ran out the door. The man behind the counter bounded after her, and out of the corner of her eye Ginny thought she saw Tom rise to his feet, with the creepy, yet graceful movement she was all too familiar with.

Once outside the door she bolted to the right, in the direction of Gringotts where she had been heading in the first place before knocking over the vase, which had just happened to look very expensive. The tall, snowy white building that was Gringotts looked exactly the same as she remembered it, Ginny mused absently as she neared it, slowing her running pace and glancing behind herself to see if they were still after her. Sure enough, there was the sandy-haired man coming up the alley, looking around for her with a sour look on his face. Without the slightest hesitation she ducked behind a large statue by the staircase, pressing her back up to it and hoping that she wasn't seen. She didn't want any trouble this early into her mission! Heck, she didn't want any trouble at all!

0o0

Tom Marvolo Riddle, Jr. was going to have a busy day. His school shopping for his sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was going to be completed today, and in about an hour and a half he was going to meet several of his friends and spend the remaining week of his vacation with them, before they all got shipped back off to school for another year. He was really looking forward to that, Hogwarts was one hundred percent better than anything muggle, especially the muggle orphanage that he stayed at for most of the summer. Against his will, of course.

He entered into the Leaky Cauldron pub and walked silently up to the counter and the bartender behind it, threw down a sickle and a few knuts and ordered a butterbeer. The sandy-haired bartender filled a mug and passed it to him, scooping up the money quickly. "Thanks," Tom murmured absently, walking over to an empty table and sitting down. He was almost done with his butterbeer when the flames in the fireplace turned a brilliant emerald green shade, and a girl who looked about his age stumbled out.

She had red hair that seemed to be lit with an ethereal glow by the light of the fire against her back, fair skin, freckles, and a petite build. Her eyes jumped out at Tom, and the saying that a person's eyes were windows to their soul definitely applied in this situation. One glance at her warm, chocolate colored eyes and Tom was enthralled. She was beautiful. Not only that, but for some reason he felt an odd connection with her, almost like their souls had been entwined at one point in their lives. The feeling sent soft tingles through his body, and he knew that he had to speak with the girl.

However, once their eyes met he knew that something was wrong. Her gorgeous eyes widened in horror as they locked on his own green ones, and she took a step backward, knocking into a vase that fell on the floor and shattered. That vase had just happened to be very expensive, old, and a wedding gift to the bartender's grandmother. It had been over by the fireplace on display to brighten up the atmosphere and make the small pub seem slightly more luxurious. Casting a repair charm on it would fix it, of course, but it would still never be the same. With those facts in mind, Tom wasn't surprised when Ivan, the bartender, shouted at the girl and started heading toward her.

She ran out, and Tom realized that if he didn't follow her he might never see her again. He always got what he wanted one way or another, and what he wanted right now was to find out why this girl had such an effect on him. He rose out of his seat and put the empty butterbeer mug on the counter, before turning and exiting the pub. He scanned the crowded alley for Ivan, and, having spotted him, walked quickly in the direction he was going.

A few minutes later he entered into the open square at the front of Gringotts, the wizard bank. He looked around and found Ivan entering into a nearby shop, obviously still looking for the girl that shattered his family heirloom. Just about to follow him he stopped, his eye catching on one on the statues near the bank's entrance. He could have sworn that he just saw a wisp of red from behind it. Smirking to himself, he slowly walked toward the statue the enchanting red-head was hidden behind.

0o0

Ginny was sure she would be discovered. Her heart was pounding so loudly the people way back at The Leaky Cauldron could probably hear it, and no matter now hard she tried to slow her breathing, her breaths still came in quick gasps. After a few minutes, she thought that maybe the bartender had stopped chasing her, and she decided to check and see. Ever so slowly she inched her head toward the edge of the statue, and peaked out.

She didn't get to see anything at all, for someone taller than herself wearing slightly shabby black robes was standing right there. Before she could scream, the person's hand flew in front of her mouth, preventing her from making a sound, and dragged her back behind the statue again. Not knowing what else to do Ginny aimed a kick toward the man's leg, but he sidestepped it gracefully. She knew it was a man at least, though she couldn't angle her face upward to see who it was. Not that she really needed to, anyway, since once he spoke she knew exactly who was centimeters from her.

"If I remove my hand, do you promise not to scream?" came his voice, sounding exactly the same as Ginny remembered it. She nodded slowly, her thoughts whirling. The fact that she had to get away was foremost in her mind.

His hand came off of her mouth, and Ginny looked up at him. All thoughts of running away disappeared from her mind as she saw him up close once again. His tall frame, chiseled features, dark hair, and emerald colored eyes were all hers once again. And this time she was no foolish eleven-year-old girl who ranted on about Harry Potter. This time, she was his age; this time… her thoughts abruptly came to a screeching halt as she realized exactly what she was thinking. He was the enemy! He was the future Lord Voldemort! He was the person who would kill Harry and so many others she loved dearly! Except… he hadn't done any of it yet. Finally she realized the importance of her mission for the time and the people she knew and loved. She steeled her jaw and lifted her chin, but even so, words seemed to escape her.

"Who are you?" Tom asked her curiously, taking a step backward and giving her some space. "You don't look much older than I am, but I've never seen you before."

"M-My name is G-G-Ginny." she managed to say, albeit with quite a few stutters. She silently cursed herself for not being able to speak normally around him. He was harmless! He hadn't even created that wretched diary of his yet!

Tom couldn't help but smirk as she stumbled over her words. Maybe he had the same effect on her that she had on him. "That's hardly a name." he replied with a soft sneer.

Ginny sighed inaudibly, absently running a hand through her hair. "My name is Ginevra Molly…" she paused for the briefest second before changing her last name, "Prewett. Better?" she finished, choosing to use her mother's maiden name as her surname at the last second. She had a feeling that he'd never met the Prewetts before, even though they were one of the old pureblood families. Maybe he hadn't even heard of them. According to her mother, the family kept to themselves. Molly grew up in France, not in England or Scotland, so there probably wouldn't be any Prewetts at Hogwarts.

Tom nodded. "Much better," he said, extending his hand to Ginny. "And I'm Tom Riddle." When Ginny proceeded to stare at his hand like it had twenty fingers, he couldn't help but to retort. "Never shaken someone's hand before?" he asked her nastily, holding back a laugh as her face turned red and she quickly grabbed his hand, shook it, and then let go all within two seconds. The only thing Tom noticed was that the brief contact with her skin had left his own flaming with the weird sensation he had felt earlier, except it had been magnified tenfold by the physical contact. He hadn't even noticed that her grip was unusually strong for a first encounter, or that her hand was unusually clammy because of her nervousness.

One other thing he failed to notice, until Ginny gave a startled gasp, was that the bartender was heading towards them with a very harassed and dangerous look on his face. Tom spun around to see what Ginny was afraid of, and saw Ivan. He groaned softly and muttered a mildly derogatory word before grabbing Ginny's hand and walking quickly toward the doors of Gringotts. Surprisingly, Ginny didn't pull away or protest, but clenched his hand and followed him without a word into the bank, not even looking over her shoulder to see if Ivan was following them.

0o0

Tom quickly led Ginny up to one of the counters with a goblin behind it, and shoved a rather worn envelope in front of the goblin's nose just as he let go of her hand. "Vault three hundred and fifty-two," he told the short creature behind the counter.

The goblin, who looked rather hilarious in his gold and maroon pinstriped suit, looked up from the pile of rubies he was weighing. He glared at Tom briefly, obviously annoyed with having to leave his wonderful pile of sparkling treasure to go down into the vaults. However, he still did his job and hopped off the stool he was seated on after quickly perusing the letter. He waddled toward the doors at the end of the hall and motioned for the two to follow him.

"You go, it's your vault." Ginny told Tom quickly, pulling her tiny brass key out of her bag. "I'll find another goblin to bring me to vault 912."

Tom blinked slowly, trying to digest what she said. "What vault is yours?" he asked her quizzically, watching the door out of the corner of his eye for any sign of the bartender, whom he knew was very impatient and could get violent.

"Nine hundred twelve." Ginny repeated, cursing herself silently once again once she realized what she had said. There was no 912! All the vaults over 799 had been added twenty years from now! She couldn't blame anyone back at home for forgetting to tell her since they were all so busy and preoccupied with other things. Maybe if she'd just paid a little more attention in History of Magic she would have realized sooner. She quickly tried to fix what she had said. "I mean… bloody hell! I can't remember my vault number!" she groaned out, realizing exactly how fake she sounded.

Tom, at least, seemed satisfied, although mildly amused at her language, though Ginny did miss a flicker of doubt pass through his enchanting eyes. "Well, if you can't remember your vault number, then you might as well come with me." That being said he started to follow the goblin, not turning around to see if Ginny was following him or not, though he knew she would. He was proven right when the sound of her shoes clicking on the marble floor started up, and she followed him and the goblin to the entrance to the vaults.

The goblin slowly opened the doors, and after his two customers had walked inside, closed them, and then led the two to the mine car people sat in for the duration of the journey. The second both of them had planted their bottoms on the seat, the car took off at top speed, whirling down the passageways and taking uncountable right turns and left turns. Ginny felt exhilarated. She always had loved the ride down to the vaults with the wind whipping her hair back, and the one time her father had taken the family to a muggle amusement park, she had loved all the roller coasters. They had reminded her of Gringotts, but going upside-down was a little nerve-racking.

After a much shorter ride then she was used to, the car came to an abrupt halt in front of a rather large door. The goblin hopped out of the car, approached the door, and inserted a large brass key into the keyhole. There was a clicking sound as the door swung open slowly, steam and mist billowing out from underneath for a moment. Finally, once the air had cleared, a room brimming with gold was revealed. There were massive piles of gold, silver, and bronze stacked as high as the ceiling, and the room was quite big. "Wow," Ginny whispered, she had no idea that anyone could have this much money. Her family only had a small pile filling their fault, and the pile was usually gone after each trip to Diagon Alley.

The goblin handed the two of them money bags, and motioned for them to step inside. Ginny did, and ran her hand along the largest pile of galleons. "Tom," she asked him slowly, savoring the taste of his name on her tongue, "Why are you helping me?"

Tom seemed to freeze for a moment, but he answered so quickly Ginny thought that she must have just been imagining his pause. "I can be a nice person when I want too. And you, Ginevra Prewitt, you mystify me." he answered, his beautiful emerald eyes locking onto her own.

Ginny's breath caught in her throat as she realized just how similar Tom's eyes were to Harry's. They both looked strangely alike, in fact, having the same dark, messy hair and sideways smile. A sharp pang hit Ginny's heart as she realized exactly how much she missed Harry. She hadn't even thought about him once while she was here!

She cleared her throat softly after she found her ability to speak again. "And why, Tom Riddle, do I mystify you?" she asked playfully, leaning against a large pile of sickles that could, surprisingly, hold her weight. All thoughts of Harry vanished from her mind once again.

"Well, for starters, you look to be about my age, but I've never seen you at school. Secondly, I feel like I've met you somewhere before. Thirdly, the first time I saw you, you looked terribly afraid of someone in the pub, and then managed to knock over a priceless heirloom and run away. Why would you not mystify me?" Tom answered her bluntly and honestly, as he started to fill the two bags with money.

Ginny shrugged slightly, and then decided to answer _most_ of his unasked questions, even though her answers weren't very honest. "Well, I'm sixteen years old and this year I'll be going to Hogwarts for the first time. I don't think I've met you anywhere before, and I thought I saw someone I didn't like in The Leaky Cauldron, but I was… mistaken."

Tom nodded, finding her answers suitable enough. "So you'll be a sixth year at Hogwarts?" he asked Ginny as he finished filling one bag up with money and started on a second one. "What school did you go to before?"

Ginny gulped softly, realizing exactly how hard it was going to be for her to remember the fake past she was coming up with. She really should have figured this all out beforehand. "Durmstrang," she answered after a moment, "And yes, I'll be a sixth year. I hope I get sorted into Slytherin, it seems like the best house."

At that, Tom smiled. "I'm a Slytherin," he said, as he finished loading the money into the second bag, "And yes, it is the best house." That being said, he handed the second filled bag to Ginny. "Here," he told her, "You can have this."

Ginny gasped, reeling from the shock of being offered so much money. Her mother had always taught her that taking money from other people wasn't right, and you should always pay it back. This was way too much, and she knew that she'd never be able to pay it back. "No! It's your money, you should have it! I don't need-"

Tom cut her off sharply. "Of course you need it! You can't get into your vault, and you're here alone. Besides, this isn't even mine. It's the Hogwarts school vault, available for…" He trailed off, and Ginny could tell that he wanted to avoid the fact he had no family and no money, "for students." He finished, obviously deciding it sounded better than any other way to phrase the situation. Handing the bag of money to her, he accidentally brushed against her fingers, his hand feeling like it had gone to heaven once again. The first chance he got when he was back at Hogwarts, he was going to go to the library and research what the heck was happening with him.

Opposite from Tom, Ginny shivered at his touch as a cold tingle ran up her spine. Pretending that she hadn't had a reaction to his touch, she placed the bag of money in her drawstring bag, inwardly smiling at how nice he was being. She had never imagined the future Lord Voldemort could be this caring as a teenager. It warmed her up quite a bit. Maybe she wasn't too late to keep him from his path of evil. "Thanks." She muttered softly. She was still deathly afraid of what he could do, but it wasn't as bad as before. At least he wasn't trying to suck out her soul or possess her, or whatever the hell he had been trying to do back in her first year. If she fulfilled her mission, then he would never even get the chance! That filled her with an indescribable feeling of hope. She could fulfill her mission, she _would_ fulfill her mission.

"Let's go." Tom said, breaking into Ginny's thoughts as he exited the vault. Ginny followed him happily, not able to keep the smile off of her beaming face. The goblin locked the vault, and they all hopped back in the cart. Off they went once again, flying back up to the bank. Soon the cart came to a halt in front of the large doors that led back to the marble hall, they got out, and headed back into the marble floored entry way.

As they left the building Ginny and Tom both looked around for Ivan, but he was nowhere to be seen, to both their relief. Tom commented on that with a sloppy grin on his face, and Ginny laughed out loud at his expression. She couldn't help but notice how good-looking he was. _He must be the one all the girls want at Hogwarts,_ Ginny thought sadly, thinking of Harry once again. Most likely she knew Tom better than most of girls, anyways, since she spent almost a whole school year talking with him through the diary, and walking around inside his memories. After a moment, she forced herself to think of other things. She was here to stop him from becoming Lord Voldemort, not to become his girlfriend!

After walking together in silence for a few minutes, Tom turned to her. "Do you want to do some of your shopping with me? I have about an hour to burn before I'm supposed to meet up with a bunch of my friends."

Ginny wanted to refuse him, she really did, especially after he mentioned friends, but she knew if she did it might alter her success at completing her mission. She had to play the perfect lady, get Tom to confess about his crazy dreams of the future, and then change his perspective… somehow. With that in mind she plastered a forced smile on her face and answered gleefully, "Sure! But, do you have your school supply list?" she asked, a little worried. "I didn't get one because I kind of… haven't registered yet."

Tom nodded, understanding, and handed her an envelope from within his pockets. She opened the letter and read its contents, noting that most of the books and supplies were exactly the same as the ones on her sixth year list that she had received from school before Dumbledore had been killed by… the boy standing next to her.

Ginny finished reading and folded up the letter, placing it gently back into the envelope, and handing it to Tom, who placed it back in the pocket he had extracted it from. "I'm probably going to take the classes you are, minus arithmancy. I can't stand all that weird math stuff. Do you know if healing is offered?"

Tom sighed softly and ran a hand through his jet-black hair. "I think it is, as an expansion to N.E.W.T potions, but I'm not positive. You can always ask my friends when we meet up with them… if you want too, that is."

Ginny nodded a little dejectedly. "We will be in the same classes except those two, then, I guess." she murmured softly, trying to decide if that was a bad thing or a good thing.

Tom thought it was the latter. "That sounds good. Only if you get in Slytherin though, it's the best house. Ravenclaw is decent, Hufflepuff is horrible, and the Gryffindors are all noble prats who think that they're the best." Tom said, his voice rising at the part about the Gryffindors.

Ginny had never heard a Slytherin's perspective of Gryffindors before, but now that she thought about it, they _did_ think they were better than everyone else. She felt slightly guilty about thinking that, but covered up her guilt with a quick "Where are we going first?"

Tom shrugged, saying, "How about Madam Malkins?" Ginny nodded, it sounded fine to her. She desperately needed other pairs of robes, and the school list had mentioned dress robes, so she'd be buying a dress! With the money she had tucked into her robes right now, she was going to buy the best dress in the whole store!

0o0

A minute later they stood in front of the shop. A large sign overhead said _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions._ In the window were several pairs of robes on display. Ginny and Tom entered the shop, opening the door which let off a bell, and must have been a signal to call someone over. A tall, young woman with short curly brown hair came over. She bore a striking resemblance to the Madam Malkin Ginny knew, and was probably a much younger version of her just out of school.

"Tom!" she shrieked, running to give him a hug. Tom blanched a little, but the woman didn't seem to notice. She hugged him tightly for what seemed to be an overly extended period of time. She hadn't even noticed Ginny standing right there yet.

"Hogwarts, Tom? This will be your sixth year, won't it?" Tom nodded. "Excellent!" The woman said, clapping her hands together sharply. "You'll be getting dress robes, won't you?" Tom nodded again. "Great! Let's go." Tom sighed loudly and followed her, Ginny at his heels.

The woman stood him on a stool and started fitting him for Hogwarts robes. When his size became apparent she took out a spool of green and silver ribbon. "Would you like the trimming? I can put it on-" Tom cut her off sharply with a curt nod of his head. The woman gave a delighted squeal, and began pinning the ribbon on the robes. When she had finished that she measured the circumference of his head, and then ran into a back room. Moments later she emerged with a black hat that fit snuggly on Tom's head.

She continued in that fashion for a long while, getting Tom a new cloak, some gloves, and dress robes that brought out his already enchanting eyes wonderfully. Finally when she finished she clapped her hands together, saying, "Are you finished now?" Tom shook his head and pointed at Ginny. The woman turned and looked at Ginny as if seeing her for the first time.

"A friend of yours, Tom?" She asked, looking back over at him. Tom nodded, causing the woman's face to break out in a wide smile. She ushered Ginny onto the stool as Tom stepped down. "I'm Maria Malkin." She told Ginny, sticking out her hand. It was the real Madam Malkin, but she looked so much younger and acted so differently it was kind of hard to believe that the two people were actually exactly the same.

Ginny shook her hand, and told Maria, "Ginny Prewett."

"Are you in your sixth year too?" Maria asked perkily, and Ginny nodded, getting the feeling that she shouldn't speak that much since Tom hadn't spoken at all.

Maria then proceeded to fit her for robes. Ginny sadly declined the ribbon; she didn't know what house she would be sorted into. That upset Maria a little, but when Ginny announced that she would need a dress, Maria jumped happily. She escorted Ginny off the stool into a dressing room in the back of the store. Tom sat on a bench outside the room.

Maria proceeded to take more measurements, then left the room and returned moments later with a pile of different color fabrics. She held a few different colors up to Ginny, to see what colors would look good. When she had finished she was left with a dark forest green, white, silver, and light blue. She asked Ginny for her opinion on those, and Ginny hastily got rid of the green, it was too dark and Slytherin-like. Maria nodded, and left to get some dresses.

When she returned she held two of the most beautiful dresses Ginny had ever seen, although the styles were different that what was popular. The first one she handed Ginny was a light blue. It was made of silk, and felt strangely like an invisibility cloak in Ginny's hands. "I'll be back, try it on." Maria told Ginny as she left the room.

Ginny struggled a little to get it on, but when she was done she gasped, for it was so beautiful. She twirled around and the skirt billowed out, then floated gently back to the ground. The neckline gave the appearance of being low although it showed minimal cleavage, and she wondered briefly what Ron would have said. No one in her family, no one she knew actually, was here to say anything about how she acted or dressed. She was going to get this dress, no matter what. Just by looking at it she could tell it was very expensive, no less than fifty galleons probably, but, thanks to Tom, she had the money, and when she got her own permission letter from Hogwarts, she'd have so much more.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in." Ginny called. Maria opened the door and clapped her hands together, giving off another delighted squeal. Ginny was very glad that back in her time, when she was about eighty, she had stopped with this incessant squealing. Suddenly, Maria turned around and put out her hands, obviously stopping someone, most likely Tom, from entering. Ginny was immediately grateful.

"I take it that you'll be getting this?" Maria asked, turning back inside having successfully subdued Tom. Ginny nodded happily, and then asked, "Do you have shoes?" Maria nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind her to stop the Peeping Tom who sat outside from peeping into the changing room. Finally, the over exuberant woman returned with several shoe boxes in Ginny's size.

She handed them Ginny, who tried them all on. The ones she decided to buy were white, with a two-inch heel. She had tried getting some higher heels, to make her just a little taller, but couldn't walk in them. Finally she told Maria, "I'll take them."

Maria squealed with glee once again, to Ginny's great annoyance, and then asked if Ginny would like a cloak to go with her dress. Ginny nodded as Maria left once again, closing the door to save her from Tom once again. Maria came back even faster than she had with the shoes, this time with a silk white cloak in her hands. It had a light blue fastener to match her dress. Ginny tried it on, and walked around the room a little. She could see herself reflected in the mirrors, and she barely recognized herself! If it wasn't for her very noticeable hair, then she probably wouldn't have recognized herself at all!

"Do you like it?" Maria asked hesitantly.

"Do I like it?" Ginny asked, "I love it!" Maria smiled, and then left to let Ginny change back to the clothes she came in.

When she finished she gently draped the dress and cloak across her arm, and picked up the box with the shoes in it. She left the dressing room and gave her favorite purchase ever to Maria, who put it on a counter with the massive pile of everything else they bought. Maria waved her wand over the pile and muttered a soft spell. Three numbers appeared and hovered over the purchase. The first was seventy-two in gold, then fifteen in silver, and last was five in bronze. Maria nodded, and then turned to Tom and Ginny who stood at the opposite side of the counter. "That will be seventy-two galleons, fifteen sickles, and five knuts." Maria told them.

Ginny's mouth fell open. That was _a lot_ of money. The most she had ever spent on robes was five galleons, and that was for a whole school year purchase at a second-hand robe shop! Tom opened up his bag of money, then counted out the exact amount, and threw it on the counter. His bag still looked very full, though. _He must have put an expanding charm on it,_ Ginny thought, _no normal bag this size could hold that much money!_ Yet she didn't remember seeing him perform any money while in Gringotts.

Maria smiled and took the money, gently folding their purchases and putting them in several bags. She handed the bags to Tom, who nodded his thanks as the two left the store.

Once they were a good distance away Ginny turned to Tom and asked him something that had been greatly bothering her. "Why don't you speak when you're around her?"

Tom grinned crookedly for a moment, and then answered. "She is _very_ talkative. I pretended I'd gone mute a few years ago so she'd just shut up." Ginny couldn't help but giggle a little at the look on Tom's face. She could tell he really meant it.

"And also… if you could not mention to anyone the expanding charm on the money bags," he added after a moment, "It's not really… you know, allowed."

Ginny nodded quickly, and then asked after a moment, "Going to meet your friends now?" He nodded in answer as they walked back toward the direction of Gringotts.

They walked another minute in silence until they reached the square in front of the bank which they had just come from, and sure enough, a group of teenagers was there waiting. Ginny could feel her heart starting to pound nervously. She was walking straight towards a group of Slytherins who were probably going to be the first official Death Eaters!

"Tom!" A boy from the group said, spotting him and heading closer. The rest of the group followed him at their own leisurely pace. The boy had dark brown hair and deep almond shaped eyes. He had a slight tan, and was a about a head taller than Ginny. He looked at her curiously, before turning to Tom. "How have you been? I haven't seen you all summer!"

Tom shrugged, "I'm fine," he said coldly at the mention of his summer at the orphanage, then motioned to the rest of the group. "Everyone," he said, "this is Ginevra Prewett." Ginny smiled and nodded her head. Tom then proceeded to introduce her to the rest of the group.

"This," he said, nodding to the boy who had run over, "Is Mark Fletcher, sixth year Slytherin." Ginny nodded, and shook his hand. "This is Sebastian Malfoy." Tom said, pointing to a boy with pale skin, pointed features, grey eyes, and silver-blonde hair. He had the trademark Malfoy smirk plastered on his face. Ginny frowned a little at him, but then stopped herself. He wasn't Draco, maybe Draco's grandfather and the father of the horrible Lucius Malfoy, but not either of them. She had nothing against him, _yet._

"This is Samantha Black." Tom said, nodding to a girl with shoulder-length, layered black hair. She was a little shorter than Ginny, and had large brown eyes. She smiled warmly, a smile that Ginny returned. "Sam and Sebastian are both sixth year Slytherins." Tom said, then moved on to introduce another girl. "And this is Crystal Moody, also a sixth year Slytherin." Crystal smiled at Ginny. She had long blonde hair down to her waist, a petite build, and sparkling blue-green eyes. Ginny couldn't find any resemblance at all between her and Mad-Eye.

"Crystal can be really moody." Mark piped up with a laughing glance at the blonde girl, who just rolled her eyes in return and turned to Ginny.

"What house are you in, Ginevra?" she asked curiously, "I don't think I've ever seen you at Hogwarts."

"Call me Ginny." Ginny said, directing her comment to the whole group, including Tom. "And, this year will be my first year at Hogwarts. I'm transferring from Durmstrang because of, uh, my, uh, family." she finished, her voice getting softer as she continued speaking.

"Really? Where is your family?" Crystal asked, looking around for them as if they would be standing right there.

Ginny sighed. "They're dead." She whispered sadly. "They all died at the end of last school term. My brother, Charlie, he worked with dragons in Romania. There was an outbreak by a Hungarian Horntail, and it killed them all while we were visiting. My father sent me away at the first sign of something going wrong, and I-I didn't find out t-that they were d-d-dead until l-later." she answered, trying furiously to stop the onslaught of tears that had started. Even though the death was fake, she still missed them all terribly. Charlie, Fred, George, and her mother were still alive. Her father, Bill, and Ron were dead.

Once Ginny had gained control of herself, Crystal spoke again. "That's awful! What were their names? I might have read about it in the papers."

Ginny smiled weakly, "My parents were Arthur and Molly. And my brother's names were Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and Ron. Fred and George are twins." Ginny silently cursed herself for saying 'are twins' instead of 'were twins.' Crystal didn't seem to notice, however. She just nodded her head, and opened her mouth to say something else. "No, I guess I did-"

Mark cut her off sharply. "Curiosity shattered the crystal cat, you know." he told his friend with a smirk, earning another roll of the eyes from Crystal. "Where are you two headed now?" Mark said, speaking up again in an attempt to change the subject away from such touchy matters. It worked.

Tom glanced at Ginny, then shrugged. "We've already been to Madam Malkin's, but we need to buy all our other school supplies. Ginev- Ginny is sticking with us. Right?" he asked her, earning a nod in return.

Sebastian nodded also and asked, "How about _Quality Quidditch Supplies?_ I already bought the new broom that they're selling; it's supposed to be the fastest ever." Ginny realized that when he spoke he didn't drawl like Draco did. He seemed more human and kind.

"What broom is it?" Ginny asked him, puzzled. It was probably _really_ slow.

Sebastian looked shocked, and his voice portrayed the shock as he answered, "The _Silver Arrow!"_

Ginny shrugged in response, she knew the Silver Arrows were quite slow. She would have loved to have brought her new _Nimbus 2000._ It would have shocked these people so much! "I guess I'll buy it." she replied without much enthusiasm. She needed a broom if she was going to try out for the house team. She was a pretty good seeker and chaser, and wanted a position badly.

"Awesome," Sebastian said with a grin, as the group headed down the alley towards the shop. "Will you try out for your house team? What position do you play?"

Ginny smiled, from what she knew Draco was obsessed with Quidditch too. "Yeah, I'll probably try out. I love to play Quidditch! I used to play with my brothers all the time. I'm a good seeker, but I prefer chaser."

Sebastian nodded, "I'm one of the Slytherin beaters. Arnold Parkinson is the other. We need a new chaser this year. Chris Crabbe, our captain, graduated last year. The other two are Stephanie Goyle and Ernie Umbridge, and the seeker is Charlotte Fudge. Our keeper is the wonderful Tom Riddle!" Sebastian smirked, as Tom rolled his eyes and gently punched him in the side.

By this time they were at the doors to _Quality Quidditch Supplies. _They all walked in and looked around. Sebastian took Ginny right up to the counter so she could buy a broom. The woman behind it glanced at them. "Yes?" she asked curtly.

"One Silver Arrow." Sebastian said, trying to mimic the woman's voice. She frowned and then went into a back room, coming out with a large broom with the words _'Silver Arrow'_ printed on the side in bright silver lettering.

"Wrap it." Sebastian growled. The woman obliged, and wrapped the broom with a quick sweep of her wand.

"Thirty-seven galleons." she told Sebastian, though her voice was slightly less rude. Ginny rummaged through her bag, throwing out the coins. The woman took them, counted them, and then shrunk the broom for Ginny. She handed it to her and then retreated into the back room.

"You weren't very polite." Ginny told Sebastian as they made their way back over to Tom and the others.

Sebastian shrugged with a smirk. "They listen better if you're not polite." Ginny just nodded as she gave the mini broom to Tom, who stuck it in the bag with their other purchases.

Next the group visited the Apothecary. Sam, who Ginny realized was very quiet, went up to the counter and asked for six advanced potion kits, since everyone there was taking the course, having done good on their OWL's, and they assumed Ginny would take the class as well. That came to twelve galleons, so everyone threw two on the counter. As they started leaving, Ginny realized she had forgotten something.

"I'll be right back." she told the group, as she rushed back to the counter. "One magical ailments potions kit." she told the man. He nodded, and produced a small black case with all the ingredients and tools that she would need. She was interested in being a healer as a career, and wanted to further that career option even in the past. She then paid for her kit and left the store with what she hoped she could consider friends rather than murderers.

The group traveled to _Flourish and Blotts_ to buy their school books, as well as all picking Ginny out a novel or other interesting book to read. Sebastian got her a Quidditch book, Mark a book of fun curses to cast on enemies, and Crystal and Sam bought Ginny the first two novels in a historical romance trilogy, forcing Tom to buy the third book in the set, much against his will. Ginny couldn't help but laugh during that argument. She could never picture Tom losing at anything, especially an argument about books, against two girls!

"Are we done?" Sam asked finally after Ginny finished getting a cauldron and telescope, "Because I want to get a few rooms at the Leaky Cauldron before they're all booked."

"I think we're done." Mark told her, "How about we all head there now?"

"No!" Ginny protested loudly, and they all looked at her, "I-I want to get an owl," she said, blushing, "And I had a, uh, bit of a problem there earlier today. I don't think they'd be too happy if I walked inside suddenly."

"Ok." Crystal said slowly after a moment. "How about I take you to get the owl, it's just a few shops down. I've been planning on getting a new one since Apollo died. The rest of you can go book the rooms, and meet us outside, then we can sneak Ginny in. How's that sound?"

"Sure." Everyone agreed.

"We'll meet you there." Crystal finished, pulling Ginny away.

"So," Crystal said as they were walking, her voice taking on a slightly spoiled tone, "Do you have anything… normal to wear?"

"Normal?" Ginny asked, confused. "What do you mean by normal?"

"Some muggle clothes." Crystal said, with a strong expression of 'Duh!' on her face.

"Oh," Ginny mumbled softly, "not really. I have other robes and a dress, but no muggle clothes." That was one more thing that she'd forgotten.

Crystal gasped, obviously shocked with the answer she'd expected. "You don't have anything? Wow. Me and Sam can take you shopping sometime in the next few days, to a muggle shopping center. They have the best clothes. Robes are too much of a hassle, you know what I mean? The muggles have the _best_ fashion sense."

Ginny nodded as they reached the door to _Eyelops Owl Emporium._ "I know exactly what kind of owl I want," she told Crystal, slightly glad to change the subject. The kind of owl Ginny had in mind was a snowy white owl, just like Hedwig. And sure enough, about ten minutes later, Ginny emerged from the store with a beautiful snowy white owl with beady blue eyes in a silver cage.

"What will you name her?" Crystal asked, carrying a cage of her own with a large tan barn owl in it, "Mine is officially named Artemis."

Ginny just shook her head softly in reflection as she gazed at the new owl that was now hers. "I'll name her Hedwig." Ginny said, tears forming in her eyes. She hastily wiped them away, hoping that Crystal hadn't seen.

"What's wrong Ginny?" Crystal said softly as they started to make their way back to _The Leaky Cauldron._ The tears hadn't gone unnoticed, much to Ginny's disappointment.

Ginny just shook her head, not wanting to talk about Harry, but Crystal wouldn't take that for an answer. "Ginny, what's wrong? I know something is bothering you."

Ginny sighed softly, giving into the soft pressure. "A few days after my family died my boyfriend Harry was killed by some Dark Wizard. He had an owl just like this, and her name was Hedwig too." The tears were flowing freely now.

"Oh!" Crystal said, giving Ginny what she thought was a sympathetic pat on the back, although it was made awkward by the owl cages they were both carrying. "Well now you'll have something to remember him by."

Ginny gave her a weak smile, and wiped at her eyes. They were at the back entrance to _The Leaky Cauldron_, and could see the group waiting in the doorway for them. "Come on." Crystal murmured, walking over to them.

"There was a slight difficulty with the rooms." Mark announced, a sly smile on his face.

"Yes?" Crystal said, smirking. It was obvious that Mark was happy with the 'slight difficulty.'

"Well," he said, "There were only three rooms left." Crystal looked blankly at him. "We got the rooms, but each room only has one large bed."

"And?" Crystal asked, not seeing what he was talking about.

"Well, I definitely don't want to sleep in a bed next to Sebastian, so-"

Sebastian cut him of with a quick, "I'm not that ugly! Come on; just tell them that you want to share a room with Crystal! We all know it already!"

Crystal looked shocked, even though she'd heard the same thing in countless different ways, countless times before. "No! I'm sharing a room with Sam, right Sam?" Sam nodded happily. She definitely didn't want to be the one stuck in the room with Mark.

Mark frowned. "Fine. Then I get-"

"I'm with Ginny." Tom said suddenly. Ginny frowned a little, then realized that she definitely didn't want to share a room with Mark, or a _Malfoy_, so Tom was her best choice.

Sebastian groaned, "I don't want to share a room with Mark! He's… uh…" Sebastian couldn't think of anything foul to call Mark, so he just mumbled, "A Squib!"

Mark snorted. "A squib? I get better grades than you."

"If you count failing each class better than me, than you're right." Sebastian shot back with a hefty grin.

"I'm not failing! I-" Mark shouted, but Sam interrupted him.

"Just give me my key, okay?" she said, in her soft, soothing voice.

Mark mumbled something under his breath that sounded like _'Not fair,'_ but no one could be sure. He handed Sam the key labeled 14. "Have fun ladies." He said in a low voice, which made all three females burst with giggles.

"Goodnight." Sam said, yawning. Crystal waved, and they both went up the stairs to their room.

"Tom," Mark said, trying again, "Could I have the room with-"

"No." Tom said, but couldn't hide his slight laugh.

"Fine." Mark mumbled, handing Tom the key for room 15. "Have fun tonight, Tom."

Ginny laughed again at Mark's tone, and then she and Tom raced into the pub and up the stairs to their room, mostly to avoid being seen by the bartender. They stopped outside the door to room fifteen and Tom stuck the tiny brass key into the lock, successfully unlocking the room. They both stepped inside, closing the door behind them, and the first thing that Ginny noticed was that were two trunks in the room. One had a label on it that said Tom Marvolo Riddle, and the other said Ginevra Molly Prewett.

"Do you want to enlarge our packages now, so I can pack them in my new trunk?" Ginny asked Tom, who nodded and turned away from her to bring the packages back to normal size. While he was occupied with that, Ginny quickly placed her bag containing her time-turner inside. Once she had done that she felt so much more at ease.

"Do you have any idea why I have a trunk suddenly?" Ginny asked Tom, who was still bringing the purchases back to normal size.

He glanced over at it and nodded. "The headmaster always knows everything. He probably got wind of you and decided to be hospitable to make you like Hogwarts even more. Dippet's a good man." He finished, handing Ginny's resized purchases back to her. "You should pack them now since we have time, you don't know if you'll get a chance later."

Ginny nodded her agreement and turned back to her new trunk. It was a much better trunk then her other one, being much larger and new. It even had her name on it, unlike her old one which originally belonged to Bill and happened to have a few weird stains in it. It felt good to have something really new that was only hers. It was the same sort of feeling she had gotten when buying the dress, and attributed it to having freedom and room to breathe finally.

After a moment of just admiring her gift, she opened the lid. The inside was lined with soft red velvet, and made her momentarily long for Gryffindor and home again. Once she got sorted, however, she would change the color if she needed too. With her purchases on the floor beside her, Ginny started to slowly pack them put, neatly folding and arranging everything. The last thing to pack was her broom, which wouldn't fit at first, but after moving it around so it was diagonally positioned; Ginny got it to finally cooperate.

She slammed the lid closed, satisfied with her work, and turned to look over at Tom, who had just thrown everything in and closed the lid. "Not going to organize it?" she asked with a small smile threatening to creep onto her face.

Tom shook his head, "I don't really care. It all gets messed up at Hogwarts anyway."

Ginny nodded her agreement before realizing actually how late is was. It was almost 10:30 at night, and she was absolutely exhausted. "You can have the bathroom first to change into your pajamas, if you want," Ginny said with a yawn. "I don't have any pajamas to change into."

Tom looked a little shocked, but then he dug through the mess in his trunk and pulled out shirt he apparently didn't need at the moment. "You want this?" he asked, throwing it at her without waiting for a response.

Ginny nodded, catching it. "Thanks!"

She ran ahead of Tom into the bathroom to change. The shirt came down to her knees, which was expected. When she stepped out of the bathroom to let Tom in she couldn't help but notice his piercing eyes focused on her. She reddened slightly, and went over to her trunk. Opening the lid with amazement still, she folded her robe in quarters and then placed it by the broom, closing the lid with a snap once again.

When Tom came out of the bathroom he was wearing a faded silver bath robe, which was apparently some sort of pajama style of the time period. Ginny felt herself go red again, to her own utter humiliation. She bit her lip softly, berating herself, and then set to work pulling the bed apart into two separate smaller beds. Luckily for her, it was entirely possible with a few rearrangements of the blankets. That being done, she pulled down the sheets to the bed on the right side, and flopped down, pulling the blankets up to her chin and trying to get comfortable.

Tom did the same with the bed on the left side, but couldn't fall asleep. Too many thoughts overtook him, mostly about the girl sleeping in the same room as him. There was still so much he didn't know about her, and yet he felt like he'd known her forever. He opened his mouth to say something to break the heavy silence that had descended on the room, but stopped himself when he realized that she was asleep.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to talk to her now, he got comfortable and then he just simply lay there listening to her rhythmic breathing pattern as sleep finally overtook him.

0o0

To be continued…

Next chapter: The girls go shopping, and Ginny meets the Gryffindors.

A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers! I replied to everyone that I was able to, so let me know if it worked. I haven't used the reply button before, lol. So this time, leave me a review too and you'll get a thank you, a reply, and a cookie! Let me know what you think, please. Was this chapter too long? It's a whole 10,000 words long (actually a little longer), and filled with fluff, in my opinion at least. It is just the beginning though, so if it seemed dull just bear with me. It will get better! Not all the chapters will be this length, but I just had a lot to get out since I wanted everyone to get to Hogwarts soon. And also, not all the chapters will be out this quickly. This one was already written, it just needed a bit of dissecting and editing. Once again, thanks for reading and reviewing, and please review!


	3. Chapter 2: Miniskirts And Memories

The Journey of a Lifetime

Disclaimer: This story contains ideas created by J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Two: Miniskirts and Memories

The soft light of morning streamed through the thin curtains drawn over the room's window, and flooded the room with the light of a new day. Yet to Ginny, the petite red-head buried in blankets in one of the small beds in the room, the day had already happened in the past. She was just a witness to this day that had already occurred, and had to attempt to change it.

She had been having a great dream. She was back at home, at Hogwarts, on the shores of the school lake. Her whole family was with her, and Harry was there too, holding her hand and smiling that crooked smile of his at her. She rolled over, still asleep, a happy smile on her face. Suddenly, Harry's smile vanished and he looked away toward the distance. Ginny's eyes followed his, and then she heard a voice. It was shouting something, but it was too far away to hear. Ginny strained to hear it, and then suddenly it got louder, accompanied by an annoying pounding sound.

"Ginny! Wake up! Right Now!" The voice shouted, a fist banging on the door. Ginny groaned, the last strands of her dream slipping out of her mind like water through opened fingers. Now fully awake, Ginny pressed her pillow into her face. It was too early to be awake. She just wanted to fall back asleep and see everyone again. The pounding and yelling didn't cease, however.

"Ginny! Do you want to come shopping or not? We're leaving soon! Hurry up!" came the voice again, and Ginny was now awake enough to realize exactly who it was. It was Crystal, the rather striking blonde girl she had met the day before.

Ginny pushed herself into a sitting position, and then slowly got out of bed. When her feet touched the floor she quickly recoiled, since the wooden floor was chilly. She put her feet down again though, and managed to drag her tired body toward the door, and swung it open to come face to face with Crystal.

"It's eight o'clock! We're supposed to be at the shopping center in half an hour to meet a friend of mine, hurry and get ready." Crystal said bluntly and to the point, before spinning on her heel and walking away in the direction of her room. Ginny murmured some tired nonsense to herself as she closed the door and headed toward her trunk to get something muggle appropriate to wear.

"Crystal?" came another voice, this one deeper than the first. The speaker arose from under a heap of blankets in the second bed, his dark hair tousled from sleep. That image was definitely something Ginny had never thought she'd see. She nodded briefly to the young Lord Voldemort before turning and opening her trunk.

Tom smirked softly as he watched Ginny. "I should have warned you, _never_ agree to go shopping with Crystal. She's obsessed."

Ginny just simply shook her head at him, and proceeded to rummage through the contents of her trunk for a minute. Having found what she was looking for, she pulled out the old knee-length skirt and the wrinkled blouse that she had worn the day before underneath her robes. She went into the bathroom and changed into them, trying to desperately finger comb her hair. When she was somewhat satisfied with the result she left the bathroom, tossing Tom his shirt which he had let her borrow the night before.

"Thanks for the shirt." she said as he caught it, but before she could even finish he was tossing it back.

"No, you can keep it. I never wear it anyway." Tom reassured Ginny, as one of his hands went up unconsciously up to fix his disheveled hair.

Ginny smiled, she was glad that she got to keep it. She didn't know why, but for some reason it reminded her of Harry. Maybe it was just because Tom and Harry wore relatively the same size clothing. Whether that was good or bad, however, Ginny didn't know. She tossed it into her trunk, closing the lid securely, and, with a thought about the time turner that lay instead, locked it securely.

"Probably time to go." She said to herself as she walked over to the door, and opened it, risking a glance back at the hopelessly gorgeous teenager lying in bed.

"Bye Ginny." Tom said, noticing her gaze. He followed his simple goodbye by rolling over and pulling the blankets over his head again. He was not a morning person at all, and much preferred the darkness before one went to sleep.

"Bye Tom." Ginny said softly in reply as she left the room and gently closed the door. She spotted Crystal and Sam by the stairs, and walked over to them.

"Hi. So, where are we going?" Ginny asked them curiously as she came to a halt by the stairs.

Crystal and Sam exchanged wary glances, and then Sam said simply, "London."

"Uh, ok." Ginny answered hesitantly, wondering about the tone Sam had just used. Something didn't seem right between the two girls who had been so friendly to her the other day.

"Well, we're going to meet a friend from school, do you still want to come?" Crystal asked slowly, as she and Sam started walking down the stairs.

Ginny nodded her agreement, still wondering what was going on. Had something happened? Why did they seem so uncomfortable with her being there? "Well, let's go now." Crystal said, hurrying out the door to avoid being seen by Ivan the bartender. Ginny followed just as quickly, not wanting to have another run down with the angry man.

What was going on? Ginny continually wondered why the two were acting as they were, but after a few minutes decided to push those thoughts aside. They were already making their way past many stores, heading toward the place they were going to meet the friend. They abruptly stopped next to an ice cream parlor, and sat down on a bench. Ginny sat down also, following their lead. She had many questions, but she didn't think now would be the time to ask all of them.

"Who are we waiting for?" she asked, voicing only one of her many questions. Crystal glanced around and then said simply, "Anna Lestrange. She's a good friend from school."

Ginny wanted to ask more, she _needed_ to ask more, but she just kept silent. They seemed to like her yesterday, but now it seemed like they were having doubts. She let out an inaudible sigh as she rested her head on the back of the bench and waited.

0o0

A soft knock came at the door to room 15. It wasn't like a usual knock, however. It consisted more of one loud knock, and then three softer raps. "Come in." came Tom's voice from inside the door.

Mark and Sebastian flung the door open and rushed inside, closing it and locking it securely behind them. "Bad news, Tom." Sebastian said quickly, a rolled up newspaper clutched in his hand.

Tom gazed at the two boys from the window sill where he had been perched when they came in. He had changed out of his pajamas, and was now wearing a new set of nice black robes. The first expression he granted his two friends was a frown. "What's the bad news?" he asked them bluntly.

Mark flinched slightly and motioned for Sebastian to hand Tom a copy of the Daily Prophet, the wizarding world's best and highest rated newspaper. Tom raised an eyebrow as his eyes scanned the article that had gotten such a reaction from the two wizards.

"Dumbledore?" He asked, shocked, his eyes traveling back toward the boys who had brought him this news.

Mark nodded sullenly. "Stupid Professor Dippet had to go and get himself killed. Why couldn't he have waited for two years until we graduated? Now we have to go-"

"Back to school and obey Dumbledore's every order." Sebastian finished sadly. "The Mudblood filth will be increasing tenfold; you know how much he loves them."

Tom nodded and looked back down at the Prophet, his eyes skimming the story. "How did he die?"

Mark pointed at a paragraph Tom hadn't gotten to yet. "He got himself Avada'd by some idiot about an hour after we got back last night."

Tom read the paragraph thoroughly. "I'm surprised we didn't see anything. I'm sure it was some mudblood, though," he sneered, "no one else would dare mess with Dippet."

Mark shrugged, "I guess. This year the whole bloody sorting is going to be Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. No Mudblood is smart enough to be a Ravenclaw, or good enough to be a Slytherin. We seriously need another Grindelwald to keep the Mudbloods in order. Stupid Dumbledore had to kill him three years ago."

Tom smirked at Mark's comments, a glint of malice and a hint of knowledge gleaming in his eyes. "Dumbledore will be defeated by the next Dark Lord. I plan to help in his demise, and to pledge myself fully and completely to the new Lord."

Sebastian nodded sincerely, "I plan to also. You have already helped him though, Tom. All the excitement with The Chamber of Secrets last year was amazing. You even managed to kill a stupid Mudblood girl. That's one less freak of nature we have to worry about. How come you never told me you were a Parseltongue, by the way?"

Tom shrugged slightly, "You never asked."

"Yeah, that's true." Sebastian replied, nodding to himself. "By the way, I've meant to ask you this for a while now, where did you find Ginny?"

Tom chuckled softly at the question. "Hiding from Ivan. She came out of the fireplace and knocked over that vase he always blabbered on about. Then she ran, he chased, and I followed. What is kind of strange, though," he murmured, "is that she seemed to already know me, and she was terrified of me." He failed to mention the strange feeling he got whenever he came into contact with her skin, the feeling like they did know each other; the feeling like they had known each other _very_ well. "I went after her not because I cared about what happened to her, but because she seems to carry some aura around her. Of power, of secrecy, of something. I was curious." he finished, eyes raking over his two closest friends.

Sebastian grinned a little at Tom's response. "What did she say her last name was?"

Mark's smile faded. "Prewett." He murmured, something dawning on him. "Don't you think she looks awfully like a Weasley though?"

"I never thought of that, but now that you mention it, she does." Sebastian murmured in reply, thoughts flying around his head.

"I've never heard of Weasley's at Durmstrang, and plenty of people have red hair." Tom reassured them. "I know she's a pureblood though, because only purebloods are allowed at Durmstrang. We'll have to see what house she gets into, because if she has any Weasley blood in her then she'll be a Gryffindor, like the whole lot of them." Tom said, giving his answer a lot of thought. "She does look a lot like them though, but in a less Gryffindor way."

Mark shrugged faintly, "It just seems like she has this big secret, or this horrible mystery or something."

Sebastian nodded, "I agree, she has this, mysterious aurora, like you said Tom. But I like her."

"I like her too, as long as she isn't related to the twins and the rest of the massive brood. How many Weasleys are there anyway?" Mark mumbled, ticking off a list of names. "There's Monica, Michael, Derrick, John, Spencer, the parents, and the little one at home, forget his name, and the older one, forget his name too. That's nine Weasleys. Ginny would make ten, but Monica and Michael are twins, not triplets with Ginny in the mix. Plus, she has no reason to lie about her name."

Tom chuckled at the turn of the conversation. "Let's get off the subject of Ginny, and discuss Dumbledore. He'll wish he never became Headmaster when I'm through with him."

0o0

It seemed that Ginny sat there, on that hard, cold bench, for hours upon hours. Finally, after the longest time, which in all actuality was only fifteen minutes, a girl came running up to them out of breath, clutching what looked like a newspaper in her hands. She had dark brown hair that fell down to her shoulders and brown eyes. She was a little taller than Ginny was.

"Have you read the Prophet yet? Major news on the front page." were the first words out of her mouth. She thrust the paper right at Crystal who took it and passed it to Ginny. The girl looked at Ginny curiously for a moment, then returned her gaze to Crystal, who spoke.

"I've already read it, and so has Sam. It's such a shame what happened. Dippet was a wonderful Headmaster." Crystal murmured, though by the uncanny spark gleaming in her blue eyes it was obvious something much more vicious was floating freely about her head.

Ginny lowered her eyes to the front page, where in big black letters was printed: **HEADMASTER ARMANDO DIPPET DEAD**

Ginny didn't know that much about him, but she read on in concern.

_Hogwarts Headmaster Armando Dippet was found dead last night at exactly 11:47 P.M. outside Knockturn Alley. No one claims to have witnessed this event, but the woman who discovered his body, Heather Diggory, confessed to have seen a blinding green flash of light outside her apartment in the Leaky Cauldron a few minutes beforehand, and had gone to investigate._

_Headmaster Dippet had been the Hogwarts Headmaster for twelve years as of August 23, 1939. Before his reign as Headmaster he taught Defense Against the Dark Arts for twenty years, and graduated from Hogwarts in 1902 as a Slytherin. Armando Dippet was born on July 19, 1885 to a muggle mother, and wizard father of Ravenclaw…_

Ginny skipped a few paragraphs telling about Dippet's life and great accomplishments, and then continued reading.

_Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the Transfiguration teacher, former Gryffindor, and Deputy Headmaster at Hogwarts, is replacing Headmaster Dippet in office. His induction ceremony will be conducted in private this weekend, in front of only the necessary witnesses, and members of The Ministry of Magic._

_When asked about what changes he plans for Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore clearly stated, "I shall allow more muggle-born children into the school, more fully qualified witches and wizards will be needed someday. Grindelwald may be gone, but there are still followers of his that still believe in his dark ways. Someday another Dark Lord will arise stronger and more powerful than before, and we shall need everyone we can get. Other than that, passwords and the decorations in my office will be altered."_

_Armando Dippet's funeral will be held this coming Tuesday, information about this event is on display in the Ministry of Magic entrance hall. Public are welcome._

_Article written by Anthony Skeeter._

_Dumbledore is never wrong_, Ginny thought with a sigh. The article had given her a lot to think about.

"So? What do you think?" The girl said, glancing at Ginny as she finished reading. "And who are you?"

"I'm Ginny Prewett." Ginny said, extending her hand. The girl took it.

"Anna Lestrange." she replied. "What house are you in?"

Ginny grimaced. Anna definitely got right to the point. "I'm transferring from Durmstrang, so I have yet to be sorted."

Anna nodded, convinced. "So it's you who needs the whole new wardrobe?" Ginny grinned and nodded, glad to be away from the loathsome subject of her surreal past.

"Good. I know just where to start." Anna said happily, and the girls walked off.

They went from store to store, buying Ginny lots of muggle clothes, some makeup, and all sorts of other things. Anna had quite a collection of muggle money that she didn't need, so they spent nearly all of that, which was easily over one thousand. Ginny had never spent so much money, but she was overjoyed at being able to. Anna, and even Crystal and Sam, were rich. Most of the Slytherins were, now that Ginny thought about it. A bit of the money could have been saved, though, since some of the clothes they bought Ginny didn't think were exactly appropriate for the time, but Crystal assured her that they would be needed at some point.

Quite a few times during the shopping experience the girls went into a bathroom and shrunk all the packages of clothes they had bought. Mostly everything was for Ginny, but Crystal couldn't pry herself away from a pair of sparkling earrings, so she bought them.

Ginny had mostly bought knee-length skirts and blouses, as well as a collection of sundresses and party dresses. Several pairs of heels, and a pair of white and black leather boots was what she bought for footwear. Two bikinis, at least what were called bikinis in the time period, made their way into the purchases, as well, one a black color and the other in a shade of dark green. They were indeed two-piece, but very covering and with high-waists. Anna picked out a few complete sets of jewelry for her, and Sam bought her an assortment of cosmetics, which she assured her that she would need.

Crystal, the most risqué of the girls, as Ginny soon found out, helped her in the lingerie department, picking out all sorts of lacey things in every shade of the rainbow, which Ginny never thought she would ever buy. They were more uncomfortable then the revealing things of the present due to their coverage, although apparently they were still of the more inappropriate kind for the time period. Ginny was perfectly happy without all the sheerness and laciness, but when she mentioned that to Crystal, she thought her friend would have a heart attack. Crystal had soon recovered, however, and forced Ginny to buy a very transparent black nightgown. That single purchase made Ginny wonder exactly how friendly Crystal was, especially with the opposite sex, but Ginny didn't voice her thought. She was, at least, still a virgin.

Crystal also persuaded Ginny to purchase quite a few miniskirts, which were skirts just slightly above the knee. She even got Ginny way too many shirts in a new halter style that seemed to be made with the least bit of fabric a person could find in the 1940s. That was just Crystal's dressing style, it seemed, since at the moment she was wearing one of the so-called miniskirts, and one of the halter tops. Sam was much more modest, wearing a knee-length skirt and cute button-up sweater. Anna was like Sam, but was wearing a sundress in a dark green color with silver buttons. Ginny was definitely the grungiest of them all, wearing the wrinkled clothing worn the day before underneath her robes.

At around noon, the girls debated where to go to get some food, and decided just to grab a few salads at a small restaurant they had passed earlier. They walked back and ordered their food, sitting down at a table outside to devour the lunch.

"Oh no." Anna groaned, after swallowing a forkful of lettuce and tomatoe, and glancing at a large group of people that were nearing them.

"Great, just great." Crystal added, looking over at the same group of people.

"Who are they?" Ginny asked curiously, watching them approach.

"Gryffindors." Sam spat out. Ginny flinched a little at Sam's tone of voice as the people finally came closer and stopped in front of the four girls.

There were three redheads, a boy with black hair, a boy with brown hair, and a girl with brown hair.

"Well, well, well," one of the redheads said, "What do we have here?"

"Three Slytherins." put in another redhead.

"Three Slytherins in _Muggle_ London. Isn't that odd?" added the third redhead.

"It's not that odd. We do wear clothes, and we do get hungry." Crystal shot back with her nose in the air, her tone hardly friendly.

Ginny's gaze traveled over the group slowly. She knew that the three redheads were related to her, and one glance at the tall boy with messy black hair told her he was a Potter. She couldn't help but stare at him, and when he glanced at her she blushed and hastily looked away.

The boy continued to look at her however. "I've never seen you before." he said, his gaze not hostile, but not friendly either. "Who are you?"

The redheads and Crystal stopped their bickering and looked at Ginny, who blushed further. "Ginny Prewett." she said sticking out her hand cautiously.

The boy stared at it for a minute then slowly extended his own hand. "Richard Potter." he said, introducing himself. Ginny smiled at him, she knew that he was a Potter. He looked exactly like Harry, except his eyes were brown, not green, and he didn't have a striking lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

The silence that follow that exchange seemed to last an eternity to Ginny. Finally Richard broke the silence. "This is Monica, Michael and Derrick." He said, gesturing to the three redheads. "This is Sean Finnigan and Molly Brown." He added, pointing to the other two students. "They're all sixth year Gryffindors, except for me and Derrick, we're seventh years."

Ginny smiled weakly at each person in turn until she got to the scowling face of Michael, her grandfather.

"Where is your family from? I've never seen you around." Michael said scowling.

"We lived in… Paris." Ginny said quickly, making a mental note of where she used to live. "I went to Durmstrang, and now I moved here, to England. I'm transferring to Hogwarts for my sixth year."

"_You_ moved to England? What about your family?" Monica questioned, a disbelieving look on her face.

Ginny fidgeted a little under their glances and continued to repeat her story. "My brother Charlie worked with dragons in Romania. We were visiting him and a Hungarian Horntail got loose. It-it killed my family, and most of the people at the camp. I g-got away beforehand because I couldn't have helped in any way, I-I didn't know any good spells that c-could have helped." she said shakily, refusing to let her emotions run loose again.

Monica's expression softened a little, but Michael was still scowling. "How many people were in your family?" Monica asked, her voice softer than before.

"My parents Arthur and Molly, my brothers, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, and Ron, so that's eight not counting me." Ginny said, adding in a slight sniff. She _did_ miss them a lot.

"That's a Weasley sized family." Sean said with a friendly laugh. "Mon, you might have a distant cousin. Related to the Prewetts at all?"

Monica shrugged, "Not that I know of."

"We'll see _you_ at school." Richard said to Ginny after a moment's awkward silence.

Ginny knew that he meant only her, not Crystal, Sam and Anna. "Yeah." she said, smiling at him, and feeling her heart flutter strangely. "I'll see _you_ at school."

Richard smiled back and the group walked away. Ginny took a bite of her lunch as her mind wandered to a meeting with her Grandfather Michael a few years ago.

0o0

_"Ginny dear, stay with your grandfather while I go get the boys for dinner." Molly had said to her, walking out the front door of their home, The Burrow._

_"Okay Mom." Ginny mumbled back, turning in her chair to face her grandfather Michael. He had been tortured with the Cruciatus curse by Voldemort during his first reign, and had nearly lost his mind and memories. Even now, his mind often wandered and he forgot where he was or who he was with._

_He squinted at her a little, and then frowned. "What house are you in Ginny?"_

_"I'm a Gryffindor third year." Ginny said proudly._

_"Gryffindor, eh?" He said, "I thought you were a Slytherin."_

_"Slytherin!" Ginny gasped, "I could never be a Slytherin! They're evil!"_

_"You were good friends with young Mr. Tom Riddle back then, you two were quite the couple, the best on the Quidditch Team you were, led Slytherin to victory each game you played in!" Michael rambled on, ignoring Ginny's protests. "And Crystal, wonder what happened to her, you two were inseparable, the best of friends."_

_"I-I don't know what you're talking about, Grandpa." Ginny stuttered, "I never went to school with T-Tom Riddle. I wasn't alive then."_

_"You weren't?" Michael said, his face scrunched up in confusion. "You must have been. I met you for the first time that day in London, and we were somewhat close. You were our distant cousin who went to Durmstrang, according to that humorous Sean."_

_"I never went to Durmstrang! I'm not who you're thinking about! I wasn't alive then, Grandpa!" Ginny nearly shouted._

_"Maybe you weren't. I may just be mixing that Ginny with you. But that Ginny was a wonder. They called her a Seer, one of the best. She could predict the future. She told us the exact date Cheering Charms would be invented, and by whom. She was right! She was given the option of the Seat at Delphi, declined it though. Don't know why. Brilliant girl she was, top of her class. Are you sure it's not you? Maybe you're a little confused."_

_Ginny sighed, "I'm _not _confused. You're confused! I never went to school back then! I'm not the star of the Quidditch Team! I'm not a Seer! I never went to Durmstrang, and I'm definitely not a Slytherin!" she shouted, rising to her feet. "I don't know who you're confusing me with, but it's not me!"_

_Molly, Fred, George, Percy, and Ron walked in at that moment, surprised looks on their faces._

_"Ginny!" Molly scolded, "Don't shout at your Grandfather! Take a seat and be quiet, dinner is ready."_

_"It's alright Molly." Michael said to her, "I was just telling Ginny of her great accomplishments as the star of the Slytherin Quidditch Team!"_

_Several things seemed to happen at once. Ginny groaned, Ron coughed, Percy almost fell out of his chair, Molly dropped some silverware, and Fred and George shouted, "What?"_

_"That's what Ginny said too." Michael stated simply. "She doesn't remember."_

_"Michael," Molly said slowly, picking up the pieces of the shattered silverware, and conducting a quick repair charm, "Ginny was never on the Slytherin Quidditch Team. She's been a Gryffindor her whole life. I'm her mother, I would know."_

_"Whatever." Michael said, "I'm hungry! Bring on the food!"_

_Ginny let out a sigh of relief, and a sigh from her mother followed. "What's for dinner?" Ginny asked, hurrying to change the subject._

0o0

"Ginny?" Sam's voice broke through her thoughts.

Ginny shook her head slightly, "What?"

"You were like, spacing out." Anna said softly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about something." Ginny said. Michael had remembered her. And, the star of the Quidditch Team? A Seer? Top of the class? Everything was getting very confusing. She was here to complete a mission, not to become friends with everyone!

Ginny knew there would be an impending argument about why she was so friendly toward the Gryffindors that the other three had disliked, but she knew exactly what she would say. She didn't know them, and had just treated them like she would any new person she met. With a soft sigh to herself, Ginny ate some more of her salad, got up to continue her shopping with the other three, and then to return to the Leaky Cauldron for dinner, sleep, and the Hogwarts Express coming in a little under two weeks.

0o0

To be continued…

Next chapter: The Hogwarts Express and an interesting encounter with the Sorting Hat.

A/N: Whew. Another chapter. Sorry this one is a lot shorter than the last, but I wanted to end it here, and leave the Sorting Hat and the Hogwarts Express to the next chapter. Tell me what you think, and leave a review please!


	4. Chapter 3: Not So Innocent

The Journey of a Lifetime

Disclaimer: This story contains ideas created by J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Three: Not So Innocent

Ginny glanced frantically out the small train window at the crowd of people waving at the students piling onto the red steam engine, more formally known as The Hogwarts Express. It was the magical train that scurried students to and from Hogwarts.

"Where are they?" Ginny hissed to Mark, who was seated to her right on the red cushioned seats.

He shrugged, and continued his in-depth conversation about Quidditch with Sebastian, who was seated directly across from him. Ginny turned her gaze back out the window, her eyes anxiously seeking out the blonde head of Crystal, the brunette one of Sam, or the tall, dark figure of Tom himself. The clock above the gateway said that it was two minutes until departure, and Tom, along with Crystal and Sam, were still missing. Ginny, Mark, and Sebastian had left them back at the Leaky Cauldron, and traveled to the train station easily enough via the Floo Network. Crystal had been throwing a fit because she couldn't find a pair of her favorite earrings, and had refused to leave until they had been found and packed away in her green trunk. Sam and Tom had stayed behind to help her.

Suddenly, the door to the cart swung open, and a very flustered Sam entered, breathing heavily. Ginny instantly jumped to her feet and helped her pull her trunk in the cart.

"What took you so long?" Ginny asked her, as they both flopped down onto the soft cushioned seats.

"Crystal still couldn't find her earrings." Sam muttered, turning her gaze out the window, and searching the crowd for the missing two people. "I left, because I had to get here. Tom and Crystal, for all I know, are still searching every nook and cranny of that room," she sighed softly and ran her fingers through her black hair, "I can't understand how she can lose something so valuable in such a small, disgusting room."

Mark snorted, "As usual," he said with a lopsided grin, "every year is pretty much the same. She is so slow getting ready, or loses something she can't leave without, especially when she needs to hurry."

"And Tom waits for everyone else before he leaves." Sebastian added smugly, his thoughts that Crystal and Tom were taking care of some business apparent on his face.

Ginny frowned at Sebastian's expression, glancing back out the window trying to find the remaining two people. She didn't know why she continued thinking of Tom; she _hated_ him… didn't she? He had been so kind to her over the two-and-a-half-weeks they had spent together, so had everyone. Crystal, Sam, and herself would often stay up late at night talking and giggling about this and that, and Ginny found that even though they all had their differences, and the two girls were Slytherins, they had a lot in common.

"Ginny," Sam murmured, a concerned look on her face, "What's wrong? Your face is turning red."

It was then that Ginny realized she had been holding her breath. She exhaled quickly and shook her head. "It's nothing." she said, trying to reassure her friend, but Sam shot her a quick 'I don't believe you' look, and then grabbed a book from her trunk and buried her nose in it.

One minute until departure. The train gave a final warning whistle, and all the students were on the train, except two, since the parents were backing up and the steps were being raised. Ginny closed her eyes briefly, and was startled when she heard a few popping sounds outside the compartment door. Startled, her eyes flew open, just as the compartment door did the same.

Crystal, Tom, and two trunks stood in the entrance to the compartment. Ginny watched as they levitated their trunks into the compartment, and sat down. Both of them looked slightly flustered, but whether it was from hurrying to catch the train or not, Ginny wasn't sure. Sebastian definitely seemed to think one thing, though, and his thoughts were more than apparent on his face due to his smirk and the laughter dancing in his gray eyes.

"How did you- what was that- how come your- what happened?" Ginny said, finishing with the worst question she could think of.

Mark glanced at Tom asking him something silently, but then Tom shook his head and turned to Ginny. "Simple," he said just as the train blew its whistle and left the station, "We apparated."

"But you're underage!" Ginny gasped out. In the present time underage apparation was punishable by law!

Crystal shrugged nonchalantly, "So. It's not like we'll get splinched, we've practiced enough. And what are they going to do if they catch us? Yell at us? Please, I can handle being yelled at."

Ginny hadn't meant to be rude, so she quickly muttered "Sorry."

Tom glanced at Ginny for a moment, as if trying to discern something, and then grinned. "I could teach you," he said slowly, "if you get into Slytherin, that is. And you don't have to worry, I taught everyone here."

Everyone nodded simultaneously, and Mark, being himself, added, "He's an awesome teacher, I only got splinched twice. Crystal, though, geez, she got splinched only once, but it was so bad her head was in Australia, her feet in the Americas, and the rest of her on top of me."

Crystal glared at him, and then shook her head at Ginny. "Don't pay any attention to this ass; he's just being his normal perverted self."

Ginny couldn't help but grin at Crystal's comment. She wondered how they could be friends with the amount of fights that they got in, but she guessed that it was probably what was holding their friendship together the most.

The compartment door swung open once again. This time, however, a large, beefy boy with messy brown hair and dark eyes was there, with a scrawny, definitely fake blonde hanging off his arm.

Sam leaned over closer to Ginny, "Ernie Umbridge and Rose Parkinson, both seventh years. Slytherin." she whispered, filling Ginny in on whom exactly was gracing their presence now.

"Hey Tommy! What's happenin'?" Ernie said, sitting lazily in one of the few open seats left. Rose sat in his lap and crossed her legs, which made her skirt, one of the so-called miniskirts, rise up a few inches.

Tom ignored him, and looked out the window.

"Fine, Tommy. I'll try again. Hey Tom! What's happenin'?" he said smugly, repeating himself.

He was much too cocky, Ginny decided. Did he even know who it was that he was talking too in such a rude tone? No, of course not. Tom hadn't become Voldemort yet, but when he did Ginny was sure he'd appropriately punish this… thug.

"Nothing." Tom replied simply, ignoring Rose's skirt to Ginny's delight, though she really couldn't understand why.

"So," Ernie continued, "same time same place this year, man? Cause ya know, me and Rose can't come to the meetings if they're on any other day."

Rose nodded, "He knows that well enough," she said, "We haven't ever let him forget it, have we? They just all try to forget it because it makes them all so sad because they're _virgins_. Though, I don't know if I can say the same thing about Sebastian…" A smirk crossed her pug-like face as she stressed the word 'virgins.'

"You haven't let any of us forget it." Sebastian muttered darkly, glaring at the couple.

"Awwww, what did you say sweetie?" Rose said smirking, kissing Ernie's cheek softly. "You know we never worked out, don't be jealous," she paused, then added as an afterthought, "and don't frown, it'll give you wrinkles."

Sebastian proceeded to frown, an expression that Ginny hadn't seen cross his face often. He and Rose must have some kind of dating history, she realized with a bit of amazement. She shouldn't have been amazed, however, since she knew that something was going on between Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson in the present time.

"Tootles!" Rose added after a momentary pause, and she and Chris rose and opened the compartment door. She blew a kiss in the direction of Sebastian, and exited the compartment smirking.

"Whore…" Sebastian growled as soon as the door had closed. He stood up and began to pace the compartment. "Who does she think she is?" He snarled, speaking to no one directly. "She barges in here, with _him_ of all people! They're all over each other again, though not as bad as what I've seen before… And she makes references to her bloody sex life, and how ours are," he started speaking in a high pitched voice, "Oh so horrible! Tootles, darlings, I love you all sooooo much, but I'm going to insult you anyways just because your friends with my awful ex Sebastian Malfoy. You know, everything he's told you about me is all a lie, he's just an insane loser." He took a deep breath and flopped down in his seat, his arms crossed, seeming to have gotten over his momentary outburst. "I'd like her to die. Seriously, I can't stand her!"

Mark raised an eyebrow, "And how does she know about your sex life?" he said, grinning. "Unless…"

Ginny was feeling very uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going in, so she quickly stood up. "I'm, uh, going to get some snacks from the trolley," she said swiftly, opening the compartment door, and hoping beyond hope that there was a trolley.

"Wait," Tom said, standing up, "I'm coming with you."

Ginny nodded, and they both left the compartment, closing the door tightly behind them and shutting off the sound of Mark's voice. He had been currently asking Sebastian what Rose was like in bed, amid peals of laughter from Crystal. Ginny was all too glad to be away from that conversation.

Ginny let out a sigh of relief once the door clicked into place. "I didn't like the direction that conversation was going in." she muttered softly, scanning the train for any signs of the snack trolley, and then heading off down the corridor to where she could hear an older witch's voice.

Tom laughed at her statement. "It's the same every year. Rose comes inside with a different guy, taunts us, makes references to our sex lives, and then leaves. She really doesn't mean any harm, but it's just the way she is. We've gotten used to it, well, everyone except Sebastian."

"That's horrible, and I don't know about harmless," Ginny murmured, "I really don't like her. She reminds me a lot of a girl I used to know." The girl, obviously, was Pansy.

Tom just nodded, seeming to be deep in thought. They finished their walk down to where the snack trolley was parked in silence, and bought all sorts of snacks for everyone in the compartment from the witch, totaling a little fewer than three galleons. The walk back to the compartment was just as silent as the walk to the trolley, but it wasn't an awkward silence, and for that Ginny was glad.

As they entered the compartment everyone jumped up to grab handfuls of chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties, and the other sweets, and seemed to be done with their uncomfortable discussion. Ginny stuffed her face happily, realizing that her mission may be easier than she thought because of how nice Tom seemed. When she finished she yawned, and tried to fall asleep. She fell fast asleep quickly since she was exhausted. After a few minutes, her head fell slightly, and came to rest on Tom's shoulder.

0o0

"_Why are you here?" Tom growled dangerously, pressing his wand into Ginny's vulnerable back. "You don't belong here."_

"_I-I'm sorry!" Ginny said, her voice getting louder out of sheer panic. "I just followed you because you always sneak away! I just wanted to know where you always went!"_

"_Shut up." Tom snarled, his wand digging into her back further. "If you say one more word I'll kill you."_

_Ginny nodded hurriedly, tears streaming down her face, her breath coming out in choked sobs, as Tom herded her to a corner of the ancient, dusty room._

"_This is my room. The room of _my_ heritage only! No one, especially not you, can know about this room! I should just kill you and be done with the trouble you've been giving me."_

_Ginny shook her head violently as she was forced to her knees in the corner of the room, against the old, rough stone walls. She had always thought Tom was so nice, but now, she knew that she was wrong. There was nothing she could do to take him away from his path. He was as much Voldemort now as he was when she first met him, as he will be fifty years into the future. There was nothing she could do now; she had to just return home to her own time and help as much as possible as she could there. There was nothing to do now at this time. Plan E had failed._

_A slow, sly smile came over Tom's face as he watched her, his eyes seeming to bore burning holes into her head. "So you know my little nickname, huh?" he said to her, sticking his unoccupied hand into his robe's pocket. _

"_I have a little present for you." he murmured, pulling something out of the pocket. _

_At first it didn't look like anything, but then a flash of gold was seen, and a long, thin gold chain was visible. Ginny cried out as the whole object became visible, the hourglass, chain, golden sand, and all._

_Then, with a harsh laugh directed at her stricken face, Tom threw it heavily to the ground. The time turner, the only way home, shattered. Ginny's loud sobs were droned out by Tom's maniacal laughter as the magically enchanted golden sand disappeared…_

0o0

"Ginny. Ginny, wake up," came a worried voice from next to Ginny's ear. "Ginny, come on! Wake up!" came the voice again, more insistent this time. Ginny's eyes flew open, and it was then that she noticed everyone in the compartment was staring at her, including Tom. When she saw him she jumped away reflexively.

"You were having a nightmare." Crystal, the voice who had been trying to wake her up, informed her. "You were muttering _no, no, no_ to yourself, and your eyes were fluttering like crazy. Are you okay?"

Ginny nodded softly, the dream already starting to fade from her conscious mind. "Yeah, don't worry. I'm already forgetting it."

Crystal nodded softly, and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Mark. "Ginny, hey, look out the window and be prepared for your first look at Hogwarts."

Ginny followed Mark's instructions and turned to look out the window. Hogwarts was as stunning as ever. The turrets of the castle poked up into the sky, scraping the stars, and casting light into the air from their lit-up windows. Ginny could already see the tower that was the Gryffindor common room, and it brought back some painful memories which she forced herself to push to the back of her mind.

"It's amazing." she murmured, meaning every word. "How long until we get there?" It wasn't like she didn't know already, but Mark answered for her.

"About half an hour. You girls should head to the bathroom to change into your robes." he informed them, earning hearty agreements from all three girls, who opened their trunks and extracted their robes, heading to the bathroom to change.

0o0

The second the door closed behind the girls, both Sebastian and Mark rounded on Tom.

"So?" Sebastian asked Tom with a knowing smirk on his face.

Tom gazed at him blankly. "So what?"

"So what happened with you and Crystal?" Mark elaborated.

Now knowing what they were talking about, Tom laughed. "We looked for her earring, found it, and then apparated here."

"That's it?" pressed Mark. It was obvious by the expression on his face that he expected more to have happened between the two.

"That's it." answered Tom smugly, but honestly. "You know how devoted she is to that kid, what's his name?" Tom paused for a moment, trying to remember the name of the boy he was talking about. "Oh yeah, Zachary. Zack Flint. She'd never cheat on him, even though I can't say the same thing about him."

Mark sighed, obviously not too happy about being denied some good gossip. Sebastian seemed outwardly not to care at all about what was going on, but by looking at his eyes you could easily tell that he did, in fact, care.

"By the way, Tom," Mark said, glancing casually at the door to make sure the girls hadn't returned yet, "according to what you said to Ernie and Rose, the meetings are still on?"

Tom nodded slowly, he too checked the door first to make sure no one was about to come inside. "Every Wednesday night, The Hidden Room."

"But what about Ginny?" Sebastian asked Tom, as he grabbed his robes out of his trunk and threw them over the muggle clothes he was already wearing.

Tom did the same quickly, followed by Mark, and then he answered. "Not yet. We don't know if we can trust her. There's still something strange about her, and until I can figure out what it is we don't let anything slip. Got it?" he asked the two boys, who both nodded seriously in reply.

Mark opened his mouth to say something else, but shut it hurriedly as the compartment door opened and the girls came back inside. "Just in time," he said instead with one of his goofy smiles. "We're here."

0o0

The red steam engine looked more black than any other color, Ginny noticed, as she stepped out into the cool night air and the soft winds blowing off of the grand Hogwarts Lake. Crystal followed her, along with Sam, and the three boys, as they all stepped off the train's steps. Rows upon rows of carriages stood off to one side of the train in the village they had landed in, and to the other side stood a chubby man wearing a pointed hat and holding a lantern. Most of the younger students were with him, and he was shouting for first years to come to him.

"Do I go with him?" Ginny asked her friends as they all headed over to one of the empty carriages.

Tom shrugged softly as he stopped by the carriage. "That's the Potions professor and Head of Slytherin House, Professor Slughorn. I'd go talk to him at least."

Ginny nodded, deciding to take Tom's advice. The crowd was thinning out, since students were getting into carriages or herding over by the professor. Ginny was about to go do the same when suddenly her eye caught on something she had never seen before. The carriages weren't horseless. They were, in fact, drawn by black nightmarish stallions. Ginny couldn't hide her reaction, and she instantly gasped, taking a large step away from the horse.

All her friends had different expressions on their faces. Sam looked thoughtful, Mark confused, Crystal and Sebastian stricken, and Tom looked surprised and at the same time pensive.

"They're thestrals." Tom answered for Ginny, smirking at her horrified expression. "Only people who have seen another die can see them."

Ginny nodded slowly, understanding dawning on her face. "Well, I-I better go see Professor… Slughorn." she murmured, scurrying off toward the man.

The other five piled into the carriage, and closed the door securely before breaking out into chatter.

"Did you see her face? I didn't realize she had seen someone die!" that was Mark.

"Well, maybe it was just her family."

"No Crystal, she said she was sent away before her family members actually were killed." Sam said, enlightening everyone to that crucial fact.

Tom just sat against the window, gazing out at the sloping, cobbled streets as the horse drawn carriage begun to move, not listening to the incessant chatter of his peers. They were all able to see the horses for one reason or another, except Mark.

Finally Tom spoke, and their chatter died away. "It just seems that little Ginny is not as innocent as we thought." he said, turning to look out the window once again as they cleared Hogsmeade and were on their way to Hogwarts down the forest path. If Ginny had seen death, then she definitely wasn't as innocent as he had believed, and that could only work to his advantage.

0o0

Ginny hurried away from the carriage, glad to put as much space as she could between the horses and herself. Even though she had ridden on one of the horses, who were invisible at the time, she still didn't like the way they looked and seeing them had come as quite a shock. She knew the death which had enabled her to see them, though. It was Harry's death from the killing curse by the hands of… Tom.

With a soft, frustrated groan she pushed those thoughts toward the back of her mind, and walked the rest of the way to Professor Slughorn, who she could see was a much younger version of the potions master during her fifth year. He was on the heavy side, had pale skin with flushed cheeks, and straw colored blonde hair left slightly long. It seemed that he couldn't be more than twenty-five-years-old.

When she approached, the professor gazed at her with dark eyes, and then nodded slightly to himself. "You must be Ginevra Prewett."

Ginny nodded as well, understanding that the statement was not a question.

"Then everyone is here. First years! Follow me." he said again, turning on his heel and heading down the cobbled street. Ginny followed, her head towering over those of the first years.

The group walked in silence for a good ten minutes until they reached the shores of the Hogwarts Lake, where many wooden boats with lanterns attached to their fronts waited. The professor waddled into one of the boats, before instructing the children to only have three people per boat.

Ginny climbed into her own boat, having done this all before, as two younger girls climbed in as well. Once everyone was situated in their boats, the professor told them not to touch the water, and then they were off.

"Who are you? You don't look like a first year." came the soft and high-pitched voice of one of the girls behind her. She had short light brown hair that was put into two pigtails on either side of her head, and Ginny thought she was rather cute.

"I'm a transfer student, and my name is Ginny." Ginny answered the girl nicely.

The small girl introduced herself as well. "And my name is Daisy."

Ginny chattered softly with the girl for most of the remainder of the boat ride, and found out quite a bit of information. The girl was a muggle born student, and was very excited about actually doing magic. She lived in London, and had three older brothers who never got letters to Hogwarts. Her parents had been so happy for her and so excited that one of their daughters would be a witch. Daisy couldn't wait to learn all sorts of magic stuff. She reminded Ginny of the younger sister that she never had.

All too soon, in Ginny's opinion, the enchanted boats stopped moving as they hit the shore of the other side of the lake. By now, all the students must be seated inside, Ginny thought grimly. There was no time where she wanted to return home more than right now. One nerve-wracking sorting ceremony was enough to last a lifetime. The last thing she wanted was to have to go through two stressful sortings, the first with her hoping beyond belief to be a Gryffindor, and this time hoping to not be a Gryffindor.

The eleven-year-olds and the one sixteen-year-old got out of their boats and filed into the castle, following their potions professor. They entered inside the castle and went through the main doors into the entrance hall. All the first years craned their necks upward, exclaiming over how amazing the school was. Ginny proceeded to copy them and do the same, even though she had gotten used to Hogwarts's magnificence years ago.

Then, still much to fast for Ginny's liking, the doors to the Great Hall swung open and Professor Slughorn led them inside toward the front of the hall where the sorting hat, not as dirty as it was when she was sorted during her first year, awaited. The students crowded into the corner of the hall, all exclaiming over the candles floating in the air over their heads, or about the star speckled enchanted ceiling. Ginny, however, scanned the tables and saw several red heads at the Gryffindor one, obviously her relatives. Then at the Slytherin table she saw the five friends she had made, sitting directly in the center of the table, with an open seat to the right of Tom. Crystal waved at her, and Ginny smiled back quickly, not wanting to draw too much attention to herself, although that seemed inevitable. Then the sorting started with the hat singing one of its silly sorting songs, followed by applause.

"Augstus, Amanda." read Professor Slughorn off of a scroll once the applause had died down.

A small girl with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail walked up and sat on the stool the hat was placed on, putting it on her head as everyone had been instructed a few short minutes ago. There was silence as everyone waited, and then the hat shouted out, "Ravenclaw!" The Ravenclaw table cheered, and the girl skipped over to the table and took a seat.

"Blegg, Daisy."

The girl Ginny had spoken to on the boat walked up quickly and slid the hat on her head. After a prolonged silence, the hat shouted out the same house as the last girl. "Ravenclaw!" Daisy walked over to the table and slid into the seat next to Amanda.

Ginny watched idly as the list progressed and more and more students went up to be sorted. There were several Hufflepuffs, two Slytherins, and a Gryffindor.

"Moody, Jeremy."

Ginny watched as a blonde boy with striking, vibrant, electric blue eyes walked over to the sorting hat. She glanced over at Crystal, who was eagerly speaking with Sam as she watched the younger boy fondly. Jeremy must be her younger brother, and from the familiarity of his eye color she could guess that he was probably Mad-eye's father.

The sorting hat touched down on the boy's head and instantly shouted out, "Slytherin!" The Slytherin table applauded, and Crystal jumped up as her brother walked over and gave him a quick hug and congratulations as she made a group of students move over to give him room to sit. He shook his head to decline the seat, however, and instead went over and sat next to one of the other Slytherin first years.

While Ginny was watching that play out two other students had been sorted, both in Gryffindor, and then her dreaded name was called.

"Prewett, Ginevra."

As Ginny started to walk slowly towards the hat and the stool, whispers broke out around the hall. Everyone was obviously wondering why she was being sorted, when she was clearly not an eleven-year-old first year. Her legs suddenly feeling like jelly, she hurriedly sank down onto the stool and placed the hat over her head. It still sank down over her eyes, but it fit much better than it did five years ago.

"Hmmmm… you're difficult." whispered the hat in her mind, "I can see all your thoughts, and everything your mind contains. You don't belong here. So why, may I ask, are you here?"

"A very long story." Ginny thought back to the hat, who chuckled loudly, the laughter ringing around her head.

"You'll have to tell it to me someday, since I don't have time to piece together all your stray thoughts and form a complete, entertaining story. Now, let's see… which house should you belong to, Ginevra Molly Weasley?"

Ginny swallowed nervously, causing the hat to chuckle once again.

"You can hide nothing from me," it elaborated, "I can even see into your soul. I don't usually look that deep down, now, because people these days are so easy to place. Yet you are different. I see a stain tainted across your soul, a black mar that disrupts the innocence you once contained. You have done evil things in your past, or is it your future? Time means nothing these days."

Ginny was only vaguely aware that the Great Hall had gone completely silent, all eyes on the strange redhead who was taking quite a long time with the sorting hat. But the hat still talked, trying to place Ginny into the house that would most benefit her, and, unspoken, her quest.

"You are not a Hufflepuff, for you do have a place. Three houses left to choose from, but which to pick? You could easily be a Ravenclaw, for your brain contains knowledge that you should not know. I see desolate things, things of the future, death and pain and suffering. You most assuredly do not belong here with this knowledge. Ravenclaw could do you good.

"And yet there is the house all the Weasley's call their own, Gryffindor. Godric's house would help you learn to stand up for what is right. You would make some good friends, and the bravery in your heart would come out. Your daring nerve would bloom and grow in Gryffindor. You would learn to stand up for yourself and forget the past… or, once again, the future.

"But what about Slytherin? Slytherin could help you grow in unimaginable ways, and you would earn unimaginable friends. You could be great, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin would help on your way to greatness. That mar on your soul would be purged away and given back to its rightful owner, and that slice of your soul that has been taken away from you could be returned."

Ginny swallowed nervously, just wanting this hat to hurry up and make its decision.

"Yes! I've figured out the place to put you, Ginevra Molly Weasley. Better be…"

Then with a voice that everyone could hear, the hat shouted out the house that Ginny belonged to.

"Slytherin!"

Relieved, but slightly queasy at the same time, Ginny took off the hat and placed it back on the stool for the next person, who Professor Slughorn was calling at that exact moment. On shaky legs Ginny walked over to the Slytherin table, which was applauding very loudly thanks to the five she knew, and collapsed in the open seat next to Tom, who offered her a quick, reassuring smile.

Ginny turned her attention back to the sorting just in time to see "Rodolfo, Oscar" become a Hufflepuff, and then her mind wandered backward, or was it forward? in time, to remember the sorting of her first year, where she'd wanted to become a Gryffindor more than anything else in the world.

0o0

"_Weasley, Ginevra." Professor McGonagall's voice had called out, and the small, eleven-year-old redhead, who was the last to be sorted of her family and of all the new first years, slowly approached the stool the ragged hat was set upon. It was definitely better than wrestling a troll or having to do magic, like her older twin brothers had been bantering on about. Just putting on a hat wasn't scary at all!_

_Ginny slowly sat down on the stool, savoring the time she took. A person only gets sorted once in their life, after all. She picked up the ragged hat, running her small, pale fingers with gold nail polish over the worn rim. Her nail polish matched with her new house- she hoped. Then she raised it up to her head, her eyes scanning the Gryffindor table for Harry and all her brothers- but she couldn't find her idol or her youngest brother. Then the hat had slid onto her head, and fell far over her eyes, blocking out her vision so all she could see was black._

"_Hello, youngest Weasley." a strange voice said into her mind, and she could only assume that it was the ancient hat of Godric Gryffindor speaking to her._

"_Hello hat." she thought back, knowing that she should be polite to the hat, "Can I be a Gryffindor like my whole family, please?"_

_The hat chuckled, the laugh ringing around her mind. "Most likely. However, there is something curious about you. It seems that we've met before. Have we, Ginevra Molly Weasley?"_

"_No," Ginny replied, "Why would you think that?"_

_The hat seemed to shrug in her mind. "I remember sorting you once before, but you were older, and that was fifty years ago. I think there was something about time involved…" the hat trailed off, and Ginny still remained silent since she knew the hat wasn't done speaking. "Ah well. I can't really tell you about your own future and your own past, now, can I? I'll leave it to you. And remember, I still want to hear your story some time. I've been waiting a good fifty years. Well now, I best not keep you any longer. You belong in…"_

_The hat's voice left her mind and shouted out loud so the whole hall could hear its decision. "Gryffindor!"_

_With a smile on her face Ginny took the hat off and replaced it back on the stool, and then made her way to the Gryffindor table, which was madly applauding its newest member. Ginny took a seat next to Fred and George, her older twin brothers, the strange message the hat had said already forgotten._

0o0

Ginny's thoughts returned to the sorting ceremony, which was now on its last student, an eleven-year-old boy with bright red hair so similar in shade to her own hair, and that of Monica, Michael, and Derrick.

"Weasley, Jacob."

Ginny smiled wryly as she watched the boy wander up to the hat and place it hesitantly upon his own head. He reminded her so much of herself, and she absently wondered if he was the youngest in his large family, as well.

Coming to a quick decision, the hat opened its mouth-of-sorts and shouted out the house Ginny had expected. "Gryffindor!"

The table that everyone with the last name Weasley, with the exception of Ginny, got sorted into cheered. The boy bounced happily over to the table and took a seat next to the prominent group of red heads. Ginny followed the little boy with her eyes, and then looked over the people at the table, only to find Richard Potter staring right back at her. Quickly, Ginny looked away toward the head table to take her eyes off of James's father. Luckily for her, others were turning to look at the table too, some fondly and others with resentment. The new Headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore, was standing up out of his large golden chair in the center of the table.

Ginny couldn't help but be overjoyed to see the old man again. He still looked the same with his twinkling blue eyes and long white hair and beard. He had a few less lines on his face and around his eyes, but other than that he still looked very old. Ginny couldn't help but wonder exactly how old the headmaster was. Maybe he was borrowing some of that elixir from the Sorcerer's Stone Ron had told her about before her first year.

Fully standing in his long, flowing purple robes Dumbledore surveyed the assembled group of students, his eyes lingering on Ginny for a moment longer than her comfort level. She couldn't help but begin to wonder about exactly what the old man knew- did he believe the story she had told everyone? She couldn't ponder anything for long however, since Dumbledore began one of the beginning-of-the-year speeches she was so familiar with.

"Welcome to a great new year at Hogwarts!" he began, smiling broadly at the assembled students, "And welcome to all new students, to a great first year at Hogwarts. I would bore you with mindless chatter since this is my first year at your headmaster, due to… unfortunate circumstances, but from the looks some of you are giving me, I can tell you want to eat," his stomach growled its own agreement, earning a laugh from most of the crowd, "and now you all can tell that I want to eat, as well. So now I say, dig in!"

Dumbledore brought his hands together and clapped them loudly, and instantly platters upon platters of all sorts of foods appeared on the tables. As Ginny reached for some chicken wings she realized, with a slight pang of surprise, that she had now witnessed Dumbledore's very first and very last speech as Headmaster of Hogwarts, and that she was the only one who could say that about themselves. _Just one more thing that makes me so unique_, she thought to herself as she finished placing a few of the wings on her plate and reached for some mashed potatoes next. Time travel, snogging with Harry Potter, being possessed by Tom Riddle, going through the sorting ceremony twice, and being the seventh child of a seventh child were the things that made her unique before, and add to that witnessing the beginning and the end of Albus Dumbledore's career… With a wry smile Ginny plopped a large spoonful of mashed potatoes on her plate, realizing that no one would ever do, be, or witness what she had.

A thick blanket of silence descended on the group, while they all ate the delicious food they had been craving for the longest time, but it was a comfortable silence. Ginny wasn't very hungry, but knew that she had to eat something or she'd wake up in the middle of the night starving. She didn't want to risk sneaking down to the kitchens and getting lost. She had no idea whatsoever about the location of the Slytherin common room, and her sense of direction was completely warped while shadows crawled along the stone walls of the castle. No, late night snacks were definitely out of the question for a while.

Ginny looked up from her plate just as Anna Lestrange, the brunette girl she had met while on a shopping spree in the muggle world, squeezed into the seat next to Sam, and proceeded to steal a bite of Sam's dinner, earning a friendly glare from the black-haired girl.

"Why are you coming over here to steal my food?" Sam asked her friend after she swallowed a mouthful of pumpkin juice.

"Two things," Anna replied silkily, "One, the password this year is Dippet. Two, I have a note for Crystal." she then produced a piece of parchment from the delicately lined pocket of her Slytherin-trimmed robes and handed it to the blue-eyed, platinum blonde on her left side.

Crystal took the note and slowly unfolded it, and then her face lit up. She had recognized the handwriting, of whoever the author was. Her blue orbs ran over the few short, scrawled sentences on the torn piece of parchment, and then she smiled, proceeding to fold it up and tuck it into her own pocket. She picked up her fork and wolfed down the remains of her meal, then murmured a quick goodbye to everyone and walked as fast as she could out of the Great Hall.

Ginny, it seemed, was the only one who had no idea what was going on. No one else voiced any question about Crystal's hasty departure, so she reminded herself to ask someone about it later once back in the Slytherin common room.

The rest of the meal was filled with lighthearted chatter about this and that, and by everyone telling Ginny everything they knew about Hogwarts. Most of the information she knew as well, but she pretended to be interested anyway as Sam talked about the library, Sebastian about Quidditch, Mark about the professors, Anna about the classes, and Tom about the history of the school.

Too soon the food had disappeared, and the desserts had taken their place. Ginny carefully took a small slice of pumpkin pie, already haven eaten more than she had in a whole week back at the Order, and feeling a little lightheaded. Food was carefully portioned out back in her time, since with Voldemort's ever-growing power those who opposed him had to be increasingly careful when leaving the safe haven of their headquarters. Somehow, the Dark Lord knew most everyone who opposed him, and where they would be at certain times of the day. Ginny, along with several others in the Order of the Phoenix, strongly believed that there was a traitor in their midst. Either that, or a double-agent. Ginny's top guess was her greasy potions professor, though everyone believed otherwise.

Once she had finished slowly eating her small slice of pie and placed her fork lightly down on her plate, both utensils vanished back into the kitchens and Ginny realized that most everyone had already finished with their opening banquet. The Slytherin table was already half empty, and she was starting to feel drowsy. What she longed for the most was her four-post, red-curtained Gryffindor bed. That was not to be, however, since now she belonged in the snake's lair. A Weasley in Slytherin was not natural, and yet the sorting hat had said that Slytherin was where she belonged. She hadn't _reall_y wanted to be a Slytherin… had she?

"You ready to go to the common room?"

Tom broke into her reminisces easily. Simply the sound of his voice could jerk her back to reality from any dream, flashback, or thought. His deep, slightly husky voice always penetrated so deep into her very being that sometimes she couldn't help but shiver, and other times she became so enthralled in the spell his presence gave off that she couldn't take her eyes away from his tall, chiseled figure. What would it be like, she wondered, to run her hands over his toned abdomen and chest that she knew existed because of countless journeys into his diary-burned memories? What would it feel like to kiss him, to entangle her hands into his thick, dark hair and run her tongue over his and… horrified at where her wandering mind was leading her, Ginny jumped out of her seat, almost tripping over her own feet.

"Yes, I-I am. Could you, uh, show m-me the way?" she stammered, not able to hide the effect Tom, that amazing boy who used to love her when she was only eleven and innocent, had on her. Too caught up in hiding her shame at being so obvious, she completely missed the small, knowing smirk that Mark and Sebastian shared with each other.

"Of course," Tom replied silkily, starting toward the enormous double doors of the hall, "I couldn't have you getting lost, now, could I?"

Ginny absently shook her head as she caught up to Tom, and they walked in silence down the winding staircase to the clammy dungeons and took countless turns through the snaking corridors that all looked the same. Too absorbed in trying to remember the path they took, Ginny didn't realize that Tom had come to a halt in front of a blank stretch of stone wall until she almost ran into the wall. She took a hasty step backward, and covered her embarrassment with a harsh chuckle at her own stupidity. Tom offered her a reassuring smile, before motioning for her to go first and say the password.

Ginny licked her suddenly dry lips quickly, before taking a half-step closer to the wall which she assumed was the entrance to the lair of the snakes. "Dippet." she murmured softly, watching in slight surprise as a large, very solid door materialized out of the stone in front of her. It was made of mahogany, Ginny assumed, due to the deep, rich red-brown hue. It had a silver handle, and toward the top, Ginny noticed, was an emblem of two shining snakes, one green and the other silver, entwined together. They seemed to have been expertly engraved into the door and filled with a colored material- silver and… emerald maybe? A few Latin words were inscribed underneath in a flowing, ornate script, and Ginny stared at them for a moment, trying to decipher what they said, before Tom interrupted her thoughts once again with the answer.

"It means, roughly, _we are one_." he answered softly, his eyes searching Ginny. "Most Slytherins can't see it. Me, Sebastian and Crystal can, and so can Tyler Zabini and Amanda Aubrey. And now you." An eerie silence followed his words, and Ginny shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Then, as if nothing had happened, he reached past her and turned the silver doorknob.

The door swung slowly open once Tom removed his hand to reveal the green common room hidden within. Ginny stepped slowly through the doorway, Tom following right behind her. Once they had entered the door swung shut and silently clicked into place behind them. The room Ginny now faced was much different than the red-hued Gryffindor one she was used too.

The Slytherin common room was a large, circular room with stone walls. A fire crackled in a large hearth on the west side of the room, casting shadows of the dancing flames across the walls. An assortment of couches, armchairs, and tables were scattered about the room, most of them congregated around the fire which provided warmth to the usually damp room. A large bulletin board was hung against the wall on the eastern side, and already it was covered with all sorts of papers. Ginny spotted one referring to Quidditch tryouts, another about an already lost book, and yet another welcoming the new first years. A folder was attached to the bulletin board, and students were crowding around it, siphoning through the papers inside and pulling out the correct one.

Tom directed her toward the folder and as they approached the younger students seemed to shirk away from them, letting them go first. Ginny peered into the folder and saw that the papers were schedules, and right on top was the one with her name printed at the top. She removed it and wandered over to one of the empty dark green couches, flopping down and finding it surprisingly comfortable. Less than a minute later Tom sat down next to her and leaned over her, comparing their schedules.

"Everything is the same except arithmancy and your medi-wizardry class." he stated, having fully evaluated the schedules. "We even have our free period at the same time. How… convenient." he answered with a small smirk, his breath hot on Ginny's neck as he spoke. She was having a small measure of difficulty preventing herself from shivering, shaking uncontrollably, or getting up and running as far away from him as she possibly could. Her answer was simple, however, and she just stayed silent and unmoving until Tom stopped looking at her schedule and stopped leaning over her.

"By the way, Tom," Ginny said, voicing her question from earlier. "Who wrote that note Crystal got and ran off to meet?"

Tom couldn't help but to chuckle softly. "Zack Flint. He's Crystal's boyfriend. Who did you expect it to be from?"

Ginny shrugged slightly, not knowing who she expected. "I don't know. She just never mentioned a boyfriend, and I was curious."

Tom opened his mouth to say something else, but just then Anna, Sebastian, and Mark bounded into the common room. The boys headed over to get their schedules, parting the crowd just as Ginny and Tom had, but Anna headed straight for the two on the couch. She stopped in front of Ginny and perched herself on the arm of the couch before focusing her brown eyes on the redhead, and earning an annoyed glare from Tom.

"Professor Slughorn wants to see you in his office immediately. I'm instructed to take you there, along with your schedule. So let's go." she told Ginny bluntly, before taking herself off the arm and heading prominently toward the beautiful door to the common room, her robes swishing behind her.

Ginny glanced at Tom helplessly for a moment, before she quickly followed Anna out of the common room, feeling like a feeble child and nowhere near as regal as Anna seemed to be.

"You know, I'm glad you became a Slytherin." Anna told her as Ginny caught up and they walked about twenty paces down the dungeons corridor and stopped in front of another door. "You seemed like potential friend material back in that shopping center where I met you. So if you'd been in any other house, I would have been severely wrong with my people judging skills." She patted Ginny softly on the shoulder before continuing. "So thanks for not making me ashamed of myself. Pride can be a killer." Then with a small smile-smirk Anna waltzed back down the corridor and entered into the common room, leaving Ginny standing alone in front of her head of house's office.

Right now more than ever before Ginny wished she could enter into the room and see McGonagall's stern face. With a soft, barely audible sigh she raised her fist and knocked politely on the door. Instantly, the voice of Professor Slughorn came from inside. "You may enter."

Ginny slowly opened the door, and then shut it behind her once she was inside. She had a rather good idea of what this meeting was going to be about.

"Sit here." the professor instructed, motioning toward the uncomfortable looking chair across from her desk.

Ginny shuffled across the room and sat in the chair, awaiting the inevitable. The professor shuffled through a few papers before piercing Ginny with his sharp, but slightly warm, gaze.

"Durmstrang has sent no records of your previous classes or O.W.L scores yet. While we await those transcripts, having sent an owl requesting them a few days ago, we have placed you in the classes you had requested to be in." Suspecting Ginny to ask how they had known what classes she wanted to be in, Horace Slughorn raised a hand to silence the girl. "The Headmaster has his ways in knowing what goes on within his walls, and those ways are his secrets. So don't ask. Once we get the transcripts from Durmstrang you will be called back for another meeting." He paused for a slight moment, apparently deciding if he had anything else to say, and then continued. "That will be all. You may go."

Feeling immensely relieved, Ginny got up to leave. Once she was at the door the professor spoke again, in a much more kind and comforting voice. "I hope you enjoy your two years at Hogwarts, Ginevra. Get a good rest tonight and tomorrow night, you deserve one. Not many can say they've been through what you have."

Ginny offered the professor a thankful smile, too shocked to do anything else. Severus Snape, head of Slytherin in her own time, had always treated her with the same disrespect he had all Gryffindors, so why should Horace Slughorn, head of Slytherin in this time, treat her any differently? Ginny already knew the answer though. She was no longer a despised lion. She was one of the snakes, and snakes always treated their own with the respect they deserved.

Finding the common room from the Head of House's office was simple. Ginny walked to the end of the corridor, faced the blank stretch of wall, and said the password. The door appeared once again, but Ginny studied the engraving of the entwined snakes before she entered into the lair once again. Why could only a few Slytherins see it? Was she really that much of a snake, being able to see their hidden emblem? She ran a finger absently over the snakes, tracing their pattern with the same question plaguing her mind.

"Why can I see you?" she murmured softly, so soft that no one could hear her, even if they were standing directly behind her. She didn't want to give away her secret, after all.

"Is there even more of Tom still left inside of me?" she continued in a whisper, her finger tracing over the snakes again and again and again. No one knew about her secret, not even the boy who had possessed her five years ago. He had unwillingly left her with part of his legacy, just as he had with Harry Potter himself. And Ginny hadn't even told Harry about what gift she had in common with him. She had been too ashamed and afraid of it then, but now that she had become one of the snakes, surely she could use it to her advantage. It would still remain a secret for now, nonetheless.

"Maybe I'll figure it out someday." Ginny finished saying to the snakes as she turned the doorknob to the common room and the door slowly began to swing open once again.

The one strange thing about her voice, her secret, was that it was not a voice at all. She was speaking to the snakes on the door, which seemed to writhe and twist as her voice penetrated into them. They knew exactly what she was saying, after all, since she was speaking to them in a language they could understand. And the only language that they could understand was Parseltongue.

0o0

To be continued…

Next chapter: Tom's popularity is revealed and Ginny spends her first full day at Hogwarts.

A/N: Sorry for the wait, everyone. I designate an hour a day to writing this, but for the last several days I haven't had any time at all. You know, family stuff and friend stuff, lol. I am really proud of myself for finishing this chapter. The first time I posted this fic, two years ago, I discontinued it before posting this chapter. Now that I have posted this chapter and Ginny's finally at Hogwarts, I admit I've got myself hooked and can't wait to find out what's going on. I do know how it's going to end though, and already have the epilogue written, lol. I'm kind of like J.K. Rowling in that way, having the end finished before I'm anywhere near that part. Well, I'm ranting. Almost done though. Thanks to all my reviewers, but I'd specifically like to thank **Schermionie** for telling me the beta reader site. I'd also like to thank **Elementalflame** for offering to be my beta. My sister admitted to wanting to continue proofreading, though, so for the moment I still have a beta and don't need one. Last but not least, I'd like to thank **Tearful Joy **for drawing me a really cute Chibi Ginny. The link to the picture can be found in my profile. My closing comment: Review!


	5. Chapter 4: A White Rose

The Journey of a Lifetime

Disclaimer: This story contains ideas created by J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Four: A White Rose

The sunlight slowly filtered in through the few small windows up near the ceiling of the dorm, which could be seen from the outdoors right at ground level. The light slowly lit up the normally dark, but comfortable dorm room, and shined down on the five sleeping sixth year girls, who were comfortably nestled under heaps of blankets in their four-poster, green-curtained beds.

A brick fireplace stood in the center of the circular dorm that belonged to the current students, and five identical beds were spread out in a star shape across the room. Each bed had a small, polished oak table to its right side, a small window was up by the ceiling directly above the table, and a trunk was placed at the base of each of the beds. A door in the upper left corner of the room led to the girls' silver tiled bathroom, which was divided into five sections separated by curtains and silencing charms. Each section contained a large bath, a mirror, sink, toilet, and cabinet. Four out of the five sections were personalized with all sorts of hair products and cosmetics, and one mirror even had _I love Zack _scrawled at the top in bright red ink that slowly changed colors, hitting every shade of the rainbow.

The low light eventually settled around Ginny, blanketing her curled up, sound asleep form in its soft glow. Her mind vaguely registered the light, and the fact that it was morning, but her body was much too comfortable and relaxed to even contemplate waking up for a new day in her new world. The light, however, proved to be most persistent, and never went away. Unable to keep herself in the clutches of a relaxing, dream-free slumber any longer, Ginny's eyes slowly opened into wakefulness to see her green velvet bed hangings that were conveniently charmed with silencing charms that kept all noise out, and in.

Ginny slowly stretched and pulled aside her hangings, only to see that two beds were empty, one was still curtained, and the other bed had a dreary looking Crystal climbing out.

"Morning," Crystal murmured sleepily, making her way over to her own trunk and opening the lid to find some clothing to wear for the day. Classes started tomorrow, on Monday, and Ginny had been scheduled by Crystal and Sam to get a tour of the school today. Already knowing her way around, Ginny wasn't looking forward to having to pretend to be interested in the school at all.

"Sleep well?" Crystal asked as she closed the lid of the trunk and headed toward the bathroom and the section with the mirror containing the declaration of love.

"Yes. The bed was surprisingly comfortable." Ginny answered, glancing down at the bed she had slept the night in. The pillow was definitely a feather pillow, and the blankets were made of material she'd never have dreamed of using in a bed. There were three blankets on the bed; the lightest was hand-embroidered with patterns of small silver snakes, the middle was of Egyptian cotton, also with small snakes, and the heaviest was a dark green velvet, similar to the curtains.

"Of course the bed was comfortable," Crystal replied with a slight laugh, "Slytherin is the richest house, after all. We deserve good treatment. I can only assume that the Gryffindors and others don't have nearly as good a common room." With that opinion being stated, Crystal, silk dressing gown and all, headed into her bathroom cubicle.

Ginny decided to do the same, and with only one gaze back at the amazing bed she opened her trunk and pulled out a long skirt and blouse that she had bought in the muggle world, along with a bar of soap and some shampoo, and headed into the fifth and non-used bathroom section, which had most likely been magically added only the day before.

Half an hour later Ginny emerged from the bathroom, her clothes on and her hair dripping wet. She headed over to her bed and grabbed her wand off of the table she had left it on, and cast a quick drying charm on her hair. Instantly, all the water evaporated. Since Crystal was still in the bathroom, Ginny assumed, she started unpacking the things she could from her trunk. All her school books, rolls of parchment, jars of ink, fancy quills, and every other thing she had that was directly class-related, she put into the large cabinet-like bottom section of her table. In the top drawer she placed her schedule, and in the very back put her bag containing time-turner, vault key, and little remaining floo powder, among other objects.

Then she removed all the makeup Sam had bought for her from her trunk, arranged it creatively on her bathroom counter, and headed back to her trunk once again. All the shampoos, conditioners, bars of soap, and her other hair products she had purchased made their way onto the counter, as well. Once her toothbrush, toothpaste and mouthwash had settled into the remaining small spaces, Ginny's counter was just as filled up as any of the other girls'. She was actually rather proud of that.

Closing her trunk with a soft thud, Ginny turned only to find Crystal coming out of the bathroom, her hair already dry. She was wearing a black miniskirt and one of the halters she seemed to like so much. Ginny wasn't very surprised, since she was used to Crystal's taste in clothing. The one thing that had her truly surprised, though, was the fact that most of the people she had seen dressed in robes exactly like they would in her time. Deciding that it was only this way in the magical community and not the muggle one, which was obvious by the skirts and modest clothing, she brushed the unasked question aside without another thought.

Crystal, however, seemed to have a problem. "What the heck are you wearing?" she demanded shrilly, dumping her dressing gown into her trunk and hastily closing it. "It's, like, eighty degrees outside! And we'll be stuck wearing the disgusting uniforms for the rest of the year! You are going to change, right now."

Ginny opened her mouth to protest, but decided not to after a long second. Crystal could be unbelievably stubborn when she wanted to, and Ginny didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of her rants this early in the school year. With a soft sigh she caught the pale green sundress Crystal tossed her and trudged into the bathroom to change.

When she trudged out, Crystal just simply ushered her back inside to do her makeup. Ginny never cared about makeup or her clothes before. The only thing she fussed about was her hair, and that went untouched by Crystal since it was up to par in her eyes. An extra fifteen unneeded minutes later Ginny and Crystal both emerged from the bathroom. Ginny was a little annoyed, especially since a casual dress seemed so strange, but she couldn't blame Crystal. She only had her friend's best interests in mind, after all.

"All right," Crystal started, "It's about nine thirty right now, so I say we go wake up the guys, go get some breakfast, and then start your tour. You'll need to know your way around tomorrow for classes, after all."

Ginny couldn't help but laugh, even though she felt so strange in her sundress. "How late do they sleep?" she asked Crystal incredulously. She was usually an early riser, although she had been overly tired lately, and all her brothers never slept in past nine o'clock. Harry was the same way whenever he had spent time at their house.

Crystal laughed in return as the headed down the staircase back into the common room. "They could sleep all day long. Sam and I are the ones that wake them all up every single morning, but now I have you to help too."

Once they got back to the common room, which was already filled with kids, the younger children all moved to one side or the other to give the two older girls a passage from one dorm staircase to the other. Once they had made their way across the common room and started up the boy's staircase, Ginny voiced the question that she had been wondering about since yesterday. "Why do they always move aside?"

Crystal took a moment to respond, as if she had never really thought about the fact. "Well, I guess it's a sort of seniority system. The first years move aside for everyone, the seventh years for no one. The only people you have to always move aside for are the seventh years. Everyone does this, except Tom, that is."

"Why not Tom?" Ginny asked as they neared the target doorway atop the staircase.

"He thinks he's too good for that. Even as a first year, he wouldn't move aside for the seventh years. It's just his character. Everyone's used to it by now, and most people move aside for him, even the seventh years." she answered Ginny, not willing to elaborate any further on what exactly was Tom's status in the common room. It was already high to begin with, but once he was opened the Chamber of Secrets, it had increased tenfold. No one dared cross him.

Without even knocking on the sixth year boy's dorm, Crystal opened the door and the two girls walked inside, closing the door behind them. Just as Crystal had said, all the beds were curtained. "Watch and learn." Crystal said with a smirk, heading to the farthest bed.

She opened the curtain quickly, revealing a sleeping Mark, who instantly bolted awake as if an alarm had gone off. "Morning, Crystal." he murmured sleepily, as he sat up slowly with a large yawn.

"Why don't you wake up the two people on the right?" Crystal instructed Ginny, rather than asking. Without waiting for an answer, slipped into the still curtained bed on the left, which Ginny instantly assumed must belong to Zack.

She hesitantly headed over to the nearest bed and opened the curtains, just to find Sebastian curled up and snoring heavily. She couldn't help but giggle at him, and only laughed harder at the thought of Lucius or Draco sleeping in that exact position, snoring their head off. Her laughter woke up Sebastian, who lazily opened an eye, stretched, and then proceeded to groan loudly at being awoken.

"Crystal says time to get up." Ginny said, unable to resist the smirk that made its way onto her face, before she cautiously headed over to the final bed and slowly drew the curtains open.

The sight of Tom sleeping sprawled on his bed, breathing softly and evenly, and clad in a robe that had slipped open revealing him from the waist up, made Ginny's heart thud annoyingly loud in her chest. She glanced behind her at the room, and to her relief Sebastian and Mark had headed into the bathroom to bathe, and Crystal was no where to be seen. Ginny returned her gaze to Tom's toned abdomen, her eyes tracing across the lines of his abs, up to his muscular chest, and then to his peaceful face. She couldn't fathom how this handsome youth turned into the deformed snake man with glowing red eyes that called himself Voldemort.

As if sensing her presence above him, Tom lazily opened a single eye and smirked at her, causing Ginny to flush slightly. "Like what you see?" he drawled, raising himself up into a sitting position and yawning briefly.

Once he stood up completely and glanced over at Ginny, his eyes widened considerably and raked over her figure. Feeling even more awkward than before, Ginny shifted slightly from one foot to the other, the chiffon dress rustling softly with the movement.

Finally, she found her Gryffindor courage. "Like what _you _see?" she retorted, perching herself on the edge of his bed.

Tom smirked, leaning against the doorway into the bathroom. "Of course." he replied back, before heading into the bathroom to bathe, leaving Ginny alone feeling slightly foolish, heavily embarrassed, and a little confused all at the same time.

Ginny sat for a few minutes, just thinking about what exactly she had gotten herself into. She knew what Tom looked like, she had ever since she was eleven-years-old. Back then, she loved Tom just as much as she loved Harry Potter himself. But now, Harry was dead. Heck, he hadn't even been born yet! Tom was the real person now, and her long forgotten and hidden feelings for him were, to her horror, starting to surface again. The sooner she could get him to trust her unconditionally, the sooner she could attempt to twist his mind away from the dark perversions of the world he would envision as Lord Voldemort. It was a long shot, but she had to try.

Suddenly, the curtains around Zack's bed were opened and Crystal and Zack came out. Ginny got her first look at Crystal's boyfriend, and instantly wondered what Crystal liked about him. He was tall and rather beefy looking, with huge hands. He did have a nice face, though, and his slightly long, dark hair complemented his height and girth. He looked much too tall for Crystal, however, and appeared to be able to crush the girl simply because of his size. He wasn't smiling, either, and Ginny got the faintest impression that he couldn't care less about who the blonde girl latched onto his arm was.

"Hey Ginny, this is Zack. Zack, this is Ginny." Crystal said, motioning between the two.

Ginny smiled hesitantly at the boy, who just looked at her blankly in return. Her smile faltered and turned into a frown. She wasn't usually one to judge people and make instantaneous impressions about them, but she couldn't help it at the moment. She did not like Zack. End of story.

"Well, we're going down to get breakfast. You coming? Or are you waiting for the others?" Crystal continued, acting like nothing had passed between her boyfriend and friend, even though the cloudy look in her eyes gave her thoughts away.

"Um, yeah, I'm going to wait for Tom, Mark and Sebastian." Ginny answered, deciding that she didn't want to be around Zack any longer than was necessary.

Crystal nodded, gave Ginny a quick wave, and then her and Zack descended the staircase back into the common room.

Not really knowing what to do, Ginny sat silently on the edge of Tom's bed for a moment longer, before his voice sailed to her from the bathroom, a touch of laughter hidden in his tone.

"What?" Ginny replied, standing up and moving slowly toward the bathroom. She hadn't really understood what he said.

"My clothes!" he replied, getting slightly annoyed. "I never got my clothes. Get me some."

Once Ginny realized exactly what he said, she burst out laughing, unable to help herself. It seemed that Tom had been too interested in their _like what you see_ conversation, and had forgotten to get clothes. Still laughing, Ginny opened his trunk for him and grabbed his clothing for the day, before closing the trunk and heading toward the bathroom.

Inside, she noticed it was pretty much exactly like the girls, minus the makeup and accessories everywhere. It was divided into sections so everyone could be bathing at the same time, as well. Tom's head was poking out of one of the curtains, and Ginny quickly handed him the clothes, bursting out into laughter once again when he took them with a huff and removed his head from her sight.

At that exact moment, Sebastian finished dressing and walked out of the bathroom to see Ginny laughing and walking away from Tom's section. "What's so funny?" he asked her, heading over to his trunk and returning his shampoo and sleepwear.

Ginny stifled her laughter and told Sebastian about Tom, earning a soft chuckle from him.

"Well, he won't be out for a while if you're still making fun of him, so why don't we head down to breakfast? I know you need someone to show you the way." Sebastian told Ginny as he stood up, offered her his arm, and headed for the door. Ginny accepted after a brief hesitation, and they made their way out of the dungeons and into the Great Hall, talking like old friends. Ginny was still shocked that she could get along so easily with a Malfoy, and also of the fact that this friendly young man could produce such a nasty son.

0o0

Ginny, surprisingly, was having a great time just talking and laughing with Sebastian over breakfast. Most of the conversation was about Quidditch and the tryouts, and how to impress Charlotte Fudge, the seventh year seeker that was the Slytherin Team's captain. Their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a large group of girls into the hall. What shocked Ginny about the group, though, was that all the girls were surrounding one certain sixth year boy. Tom. And he didn't look in the least bit upset.

The gaggle of girls and Tom neared the Slytherin table, and then Tom sat down in the seat next to Sebastian. All the girls that were Slytherins followed suit, and crammed themselves as close to Tom as they could get. One almost pushed Ginny off of the bench, not even sparing her a second look or an apology. She couldn't expect much from a Slytherin, anyways.

"Morning Tom, Mandy, Stephanie, Charlotte, Becca." Sebastian said to the group, nodding his head slightly as he greeted each person in turn.

Charlotte and Mandy replied with their own greeting, but the other two girls ignored the Malfoy heir, their undivided attention focused completely on Tom.

"So Tom," purred Becca, a black haired girl with large, close together blue eyes, "What are you doing today? I'd definitely enjoy your company."

Stephanie, a heavyset girl with blonde hair pulled back into tight pigtails, glared at Becca. "Why would he want to spend the day with you?" she sneered, then turned toward Tom with a smile. "I was going to do some Quidditch practice. Why don't you join me? Everyone knows that you'll be the Captain next year. You should be the captain now."

Charlotte, the current captain, glared daggers at Stephanie. "If you keep this up, I'll take you off the team," she sneered, "And everyone also knows that _you_ could never be the captain even in your wildest dreams."

"I could to!" Stephanie replied with a huff, elbowing Ginny in the ribs without even realizing that she had.

"Please! You wouldn't have even been on the team if your brother hadn't left you such a good legacy." Charlotte replied, crossing her arms and glowering, which made her look sinister.

Stephanie opened her mouth to make another retort, but was cut off by Tom's smooth voice. "I actually can't spend the day with any of you ladies. My day is going to be spent with Ginevra. I told her I'd show her around the school and the grounds, after all."

Becca blinked slowly. "Who's Ginerra?" she asked Tom with a frown, her eyes scanning the people around them.

"It's not Ginerra, it's Ginevra." Mandy snapped at Becca. "Honestly, how stupid are you? She's sitting right across from you!"

Becca looked up at the red headed girl directly across from her. "You're Ginerra?" she asked Ginny, her eyes focused on Ginny's vibrant red hair.

Ginny nodded slowly, not wanting to open her mouth and start the argument up again.

"How come you get to spend the day with Tom?" Becca continued, her tone and gaze suddenly turning icy. "This is your first day here! You have no right to even be in the presence of my Lo-"

"Shut it, Becca!" Sebastian interrupted, slamming a fist down on the table for effect.

Becca instantly closed her mouth tightly, pursing her lips in a thin line. She gazed over at Tom, who was glaring at her in a rather dangerous way, swallowed, and then jumped out of her seat.

"I just forgot! Got to go to the library for… something." she said quickly, scurrying out of the Great Hall.

Sebastian glanced over at Tom out of the corner of his eye, and Tom glanced back. They both shared a very quick, subtle nod of the head before Sebastian turned to Ginny. "Why don't I start giving you your tour?" he said to her as Tom slowly rose out of his seat. "Tom will come join us shortly."

Ginny nodded once again, afraid her words would betray her. Had Becca almost called Tom _my Lord_?

0o0

As Ginny and Sebastian left the Great Hall, Tom quietly excused himself from all the girls around him, promising to be back later. Each of them waved goodbye and watched him out of the corner of their eyes until he was completely out of sight, before turning back toward the table and talking amongst themselves.

Tom, however, had a set destination and a purpose at the moment. Becca would never go to the library, it just wasn't her style; so Tom headed back to the common room where she had most likely gone. His demeanor seemed normal, albeit the slightest bit icy, but inside he was seething. How dare the sniveling girl lose her tongue like that? He had known Ginny for less than a month, but he could tell that she knew more than she let on, and had secrets of her own. He was determined to find out what those secrets were, no matter how long it took. If that simple thing required punishing Becca, or being extra nice to the fiery redhead, he would do just that. Not to mention that he still wanted to know why coming into contact with her skin had such a strange affect on him.

Rounding the corner that lead to the stone wall that served as the entrance to the Slytherin dormitory, he spotted Becca standing against the wall, arms crossed lightly over her chest, waiting for him. At least she wasn't as much of an idiot and a coward as he had previously thought. Running from him would only make him angrier, and an angry Tom was one thing many people had already learned to avoid.

Murmuring the password, Tom entered the common room without another glance at the dark haired girl, whom he used to find attractive earlier in his fifth year. She followed him inside, silent, until the door swung closed behind them and latched with a strong click. Then, she started making noise again.

"Why does she get to spend all day with you?" Becca's voice was nothing short of a whine, although it was picking up in hauteur and anger. "She's just some ugly new girl who isn't fit to be in your presence! I thought that I would get to spend the first day back with you, in the least! Maybe Charlotte or Stephanie if you wanted to talk Quidditch, but not some Ginerra whats-her-face! Last year you liked me, and you promised me things," she continued, jabbing Tom in the chest with a finger, "and I expect you to hold up to those. I'm not some sniveling brat like that red haired freak, and I most certainly deserve your time more than that-"

Whatever she had been going to call Ginny was lost as she flew backwards a few steps and crumpled to the ground. Tom didn't look like he had moved in the least, although he was lightly flexing one fist at his side.

"That was for having a loose tongue," he said, eyes cold and hard. "And this," he continued, raising his wand to point it at her, "Is for assuming that I owe you anything when I most certainly do not." Not even a word was spoken, but a red light flashed out of his wand, and Becca began to writhe in agony on the floor.

"Now," Tom continued, walking around the writhing and whimpering girl slowly, "you will not say another disrespectful thing about Ginevra. You will not come to any meetings for the next two months. And you will most certainly not disrespect my eyes with your presence at any time of the day until those two months have passed. Have I made myself clear?"

His only response was a tearful nod.

0o0

Meanwhile, Sebastian and Ginny's tour had reached the Quidditch fields. They had taken a short trip to the three Herbology greenhouses, and down to the border with the Forbidden Forest, where the hut belonging to the groundskeeper stood. Due to the love they both shared for Quidditch, Sebastian had gladly suggested to show her his favorite location on the grounds. When they arrived, Ginny wasn't very surprised to see that it hadn't changed much from this time to the time she truly belonged in. The only real difference was that she would be in the Slytherin stands cheering on the players in green and silver, or even possibly playing Quidditch wearing green and silver robes. The whole concept still seemed oddly surreal.

"Well, this is it." Sebastian said proudly as they looked at the stadium. "Quidditch tryouts will be here in two weeks, so by then you should be able to find your way. You are going to try out, right?"

"Of course," was Ginny's reply, since she wasn't really sure how she would survive a year without playing in any of the games. Then again, she wasn't sure how she was going to survive riding a broom ten times slower than what she was used to. The _Silver Arrows_ looked flashy, but by next year would be replaced with some much better styles with faster speeds.

"Want to fly around a bit? Get used to the stadium?" Sebastian asked her, and seeing the gleam in her eyes couldn't help but smirk. Taking the expression as a yes, which it most certainly was, he took out his wand and murmured, "Accio _Silver Arrow_." Ginny followed suit, calling her own broom to her.

When Sebastian caught his with ease, she knew that her broom should be here momentarily, but couldn't see it anywhere. Only at the last seconds did she realize that it was not coming from Gryffindor Tower, where she had been looking, but from the dungeons. Finally turning her head to look closer to the ground she saw it, and caught it successfully.

Not even waiting for another word from Sebastian, and not caring that she was wearing a dress, she mounted her broom and kicked off into the air. After doing a few lazy circles around the stadium, in which she realized that the handling of the broom was not as bad as she expected, she wanted to know exactly how fast the acclaimed _Silver Arrow_ could go. Stopping at one end of the pitch she turned the broom ever-so-slightly with a slight pressure on the right side, until it was pointing straight down the pitch at the other set of goal posts. She started off then, leaning low over the broom handle and pushing it for all the speed she could get out of it. At top speed, she could finally feel the exhilaration she used to love before it became too dangerous to ride a broom outdoors. Sitting up straight she raised her arms out behind her, and tilted her head back to get the full effect of the wind and the speed at which she was streaking down the pitch. Closing her eyes for a moment, she completely forgot about Sebastian Malfoy and the fact that Tom would be showing up any minute now. It was only her and the wind.

The moment had to end, though. Opening her eyes again, she had to slow down considerably or risk slamming into the goal posts. Once she had slowed enough, she turned around and streaked off in the opposite direction, doing a few loops, as well as Quidditch maneuvers, in the air. She hadn't even noticed that Tom had entered the stadium and was watching her with a very curious expression on his face, until he shouted at her and motioned for her to come down.

Once she landed, Tom's earlier expression had completely vanished, and was replaced with a crooked smile. "I don't think you're even going to need to try out for the team," he told her with a bemused shake of his head. "I might as well just tell Charlotte now that you're in, so we don't have to worry about booking the pitch and getting spied on." His eyes traversed slowly over her flushed face, windswept hair, and cute sundress.

Noticing his gaze Ginny flushed, but said nothing. It wouldn't do her any good, after all. They would probably end up having another discussion like earlier in his dormitory, or she would end up feeling even more awkward in the dress. It was good that she had momentarily forgotten about her discomfort, but now that was back in full force. She assumed it would be some time until she felt comfortable in anything other than jeans, t-shirts, and school robes.

"Has Sebastian showed you the greenhouses and the forest already?" Tom asked carelessly, eyes rising to see the silvery-blonde fluttering around like a butterfly on his new broomstick. It seemed that the Malfoy could get just as carried away as Ginny when soaring through the skies. Although, it was Ginny who did the soaring. Sebastian's flying style was definitely more along the lines of fluttering, which was definitely amusing considering he was the better of the two beaters on the team.

"What about the lake? The garden?" Tom prompted after Ginny's nod in response to his first query.

The lake was definitely Ginny's favorite place on the grounds, besides the Quidditch Stadium of course. The squid was friendly enough; it had proven that by rescuing her best friend's little brother from drowning. This memory brought a little more sadness and longing for the time that had not even happened yet. She missed Colin Creevey, her best friend, and even his younger brother Dennis. Colin had helped her through so much in the years to follow the incident with Tom's diary, when the girls her age had treated her like some sort of freak. She would be forever indebted to Colin for his kindness, and may he rest in peace.

"I would love to see them." Ginny replied as if nothing else had crossed her mind. Forgetting about the memories that plagued her was the best course of action at this time.

"Then let me show you the way." Tom replied after a moment, as he offered Ginny his arm. Seeing her startled reaction was enough to bring a smirk to his lips, but she took his arm nonetheless, although very hesitantly. He needed to find out more about her, and what she was hiding. If getting her to trust him unconditionally was part of that, he would do whatever it took to make that come true.

They walked across the grounds in mostly silence as Tom led Ginny toward the more popular part of the lake shore. Very few students were there at the moment, and not at the spot he preferred, which was good, since he needed a bit of time alone with the red head at his side. Since the second she had taken his arm he had become lightheaded, even more cheerful, and the strange jolts of electricity running up and down his spine had started up again. They weren't painful at all, but he had many questions about them plaguing his thoughts. Would the sensations change, possibly magnify, if the contact became more than just the casual touch they shared now? What if he kissed her? Did she feel these things at all? He was determined to find out.

0o0

"Did you see that?" Tom asked, rising to his feet from where the two had taken a seat on the grass. Peering toward the lake, he nodded slowly to himself as he saw the large white tentacle rise above the waters yet again. "It's the squid. You should take a look."

Heeding his words, especially since she'd never actually seen the squid before, Ginny rose to her feet and scanned the pristine surface of the large lake. "Where?" she asked, taking a few steps forward until she was next to Tom. "I don't see anything."

In response to her query, Tom stepped behind her. Placing one hand lightly on her shoulder and pretending to not notice how she visibly stiffened, he pointed with his other hand toward where the tentacle had lazily drifted above the surface again. "Right there. See it now?"

Ginny rose on her tiptoes and squinted her eyes just a bit, and then noticed it. "Yes! I see it! That squid must be so huge!"

Tom's answer was only a soft chuckle. As he took a half step closer to Ginny, however, she broke the physical contact by stepping away quickly, almost _too_ quickly.

"What about the gardens?" she asked him, turning her head to look at them from the distance they were at now. "I heard the roses are lovely at this time of year."

"I wouldn't know. I don't pay much attention to flowers." Tom admitted with a shrug, as he headed off in that direction, Ginny only a few steps behind him as he had not offered his arm to her this time.

The gardens were just the same as she always remembered. The roses were blooming in bright shades of red, yellow, pink, white, and even black. Tom absently picked one of the white ones and handed it to her with one of the crooked grins that reminded her so much of Harry. Taking the rose from him with a smile, her heart practically jumped into her throat. This exact same scene had happened only two months ago, although it was Harry Potter standing in front of her, not the boy she couldn't help but to love and hate at the same time.

0o0

_Hair tied up in a bun with curled strands breaking free and falling in front of her face, Ginny was standing in the school gardens with Harry Potter. It was nearing sunset, and the whole sky had turned a striking shade of pink and orange. Harry absently picked one of the white roses growing nearby and twirled it in his fingers before handing it to her with one of the crooked grins that she loved so much._

_Taking the rose from him she smiled softly before tucking it behind one ear, watching his striking green eyes follow her every movement. "Thank you." she whispered, although words were not needed. These moments they shared had become almost sacred, since they were so far between. Each day there was more news about muggle killings, death eater raids, top secret auror meetings being ambushed. The wizarding world was in a massive state of panic, and everyone demanded that the famous Boy Who Lived, their one true savior, go out and kill He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. As if it was that easy._

"_You can't leave, Harry." Ginny whispered again, her voice close to breaking as a tear slipped down her cheek. "The world can wait; You-Know-Who isn't going anywhere. You can't leave now."_

"_You know I have to, Ginny. I may not feel ready enough for what is to come, but I have to face it nonetheless. The world needs their hero, and without Dumbledore, I'm the one they need. I'm sorry…"_

_A few more tears trickled down Ginny's cheek, and she made no effort to wipe them away like she usually would, trying to stay strong. It felt like her world was crashing down. What if he died? What would she do then? He had tried to push her away, saying that You-Know-Who would come after her if he knew that they were close. She had stopped that nonsense easily enough, but there was no stopping this. The world needed their hero, and Harry, prepared or not, was going to give them that hero._

"_What will I do if you d-don't come back?" she sniffled, her voice breaking as a few more tears fell unbidden. "What will any of us do? Stay safe for now, Harry, please."_

"_Ginny…" Harry started, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to stop himself from losing his brave face so early on in the conversation._

"_Take this." Ginny said suddenly, and Harry forgot whatever it was he had been going to say. Ginny slipped the promise ring he had given her off, and was now pressing it into his palm. "Keep it for good luck. I can survive without it until you come back."_

_Eyes shining with unshed tears, Harry closed his fingers over the ring she had worn every waking moment since he had given it to her. "I _will_ give this back to you, Ginny. I promise."_

_Flinging her arms around his neck, Ginny hugged him tightly, never wanting to let go. "I love you Harry James Potter. Don't ever leave me."_

"_I'll be back Ginny. I love you." Moving out of her embrace for a moment, he ducked his head and took her lips with his; kissing her with every last bit of himself he had left. He wasn't sure if he would live through this final encounter with Voldemort. But he was going to try, if only for the girl he was with now._

_Leaning into his embrace and kissing him back with everything she had as well, the same thoughts floated through Ginny's mind. Although, for a memory, the kiss felt a bit too real…_

0o0

Suddenly returning out of her reminiscing, Ginny understood why the last bit of her memory had seemed too real, too tangent. As her eyes focused on Tom once more, he took a half step closer until he was almost touching her. Heart pounding so hard it seemed to be coming right out of her chest, she silently willed it to slow down. People a mile away could probably hear it, and that was the last thing she needed at the moment.

Harry's green eyes… no… Tom's green eyes searched her chocolate ones for a moment before he bent his head and brushed his lips with hers, obviously testing the water and not wanting to do anything brazen just yet. Ginny's body seemed to refuse to obey her mind, however, as she returned his kiss with more pressure than even he had initiated it.

Taking that as the answer he needed, his lips came crashing down on hers, completely contrary to the soft, questioning kiss he had begun with. There was nothing gentle about the rough, passionate way their lips met and their tongues danced together, but Ginny felt as if her whole body was on fire. Knees suddenly giving way, Tom snaked an arm around her waist, holding her up and pressing her against him at the same time.

Her hands found their way up his arms to tangle in his dark hair as she continued to kiss him with all the pent up desire she had since her first year at Hogwarts. All the desire she had since Tom had told her he loved her all those years ago. Suddenly, however, the world came rushing back at her. Her mind, shouting at her to stop the entire time, could control her body again. With a startled gasp she pushed herself away from Tom, stood shakily on her feet for a split second, and then bolted up toward the castle.

0o0

Ginny was out of site before Tom could even move. And even then, the only action he could accomplish was sinking down on a nearby bench just to get off of his feet, which he didn't trust to hold him up any longer. Questions flew through his mind, mostly about why she had run. He had been gentle, until she had practically demanded a rougher kiss. Even at that point, he hadn't caused her any pain. He was sure of that. He wasn't about to do anything of the sort at this time anyways, especially since there was so much he wanted to figure out about her. Apparently he had done something to scare her, though. Maybe she had felt the electric jolts and tingles that time, and that was what had her nervous. They were so much worse during the kiss; he was surprised he even managed to stay on his feet. His body had felt like it was on fire, electric jolts had run along his spine, and the second he had an arm around her waist that arm had filled with tingles. It was definitely time to go to the library.

Once he felt that he was indeed in control of his feet, Tom got up and headed inside at top speed. Hoping that Ginny hadn't gotten too lost inside, but not really caring since she had run from him, he entered the library and started browsing the shelves, really having no idea where to start looking. All he knew was that something about Ginny wasn't right, and the strange feeling he continued to feel when around her was not right either. There had to be a valid, logical reason for her effect on him. He was going to find out; and starting Wednesday, he would make everyone else start finding anything odd about Ginevra Prewitt that they could. No girl should have an effect on him anywhere near the magnitude this one did. He was Tom Riddle!

0o0

Somehow, for some unknown reason, Ginny's feet had led her to the second floor of Hogwarts. As her quickened pace slowed, she rounded a corner and came face-to-face with the door to the floor's girl's bathroom. Heart thudding for what seemed to be the millionth time today; she stared blankly at the stretch of oak that led to the domain of Moaning Myrtle during her time. The ghost would not be here now, though, since she was off haunting some girl. Myrtle had mentioned to Ginny what she had done after death at some point in time, and although the name of the girl escaped her, Ginny knew the ghost would not be here.

Why, then, did her hand reach out for the door with trembling fingers? Why, then, did hisses form on her tongue? Why, then, did some part of her ache for the place she had first seem Tom so tangent? She wasn't sure. The basilisk was sleeping for now, so she didn't have to worry about finding it anywhere unexpectedly. And yet, the shadows hidden miles beneath the school were no warm and comfortable place a person went to just on a whim. Fingers brushing against the door, she pushed it only lightly, and it slowly moved inward. Gaping, as it seemed to move of its own accord, Ginny hesitantly stepped inside.

The spherical sinks stood right in front of her, now. Slowly, steps clicking on the tile floor, Ginny approached the sink that had snakes coiled around the faucet. Breath strangely even for being in such close proximity with the place she nearly died, her footsteps finally stopped. Reaching out a hand she slowly stroked the engraved snake, and opened her mouth to speak- but stopped. What good would opening the chamber do? She couldn't believe that thoughts like this were actually crossing her mind!

One hasty step backward, and a half turn toward the door, was all it took, however. She froze again, eyes widening as she realized that two people were walking toward the bathroom. The voices were so low she couldn't tell whether they were male or female, but the steady footsteps stopping just before the bathroom door were signal enough. Looking wildly around the bathroom, Ginny flung herself into one of the cubicles, and perched herself precariously on her feet on top of the toilet. Crouching down she balanced her elbows on her knees, and held her breath, not a moment too soon.

Two sets of footsteps entered the bathroom, speaking in hushed voices. Ginny leaned forward, but still could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation.

"Yes…you heard…Wednesday…Becca…curse…"

Straining forward and peering through the crack in the stall door, Ginny could see black school robes and the Slytherin crest on both students. Shifting her position so she could get a better look at the faces, Ginny was shocked to see Crystal and Sam conversing secretly. The two shook hands after an exchange of several more hushed words, and then spun on their heels and left just as promptly as they had entered.

Ginny emerged slowly from her hiding place, opening the door as quietly as possible. What had that been about? It didn't seem to be just coincidence that caused the two girls to meet in the unlikely place of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Hesitantly, Ginny walked to the door and peered outside, but the two girls had gone. What had they been talking about? All thoughts of the Chamber wiped from her mind, Ginny crept toward the door and then headed off down the hallway. Right now all that mattered was getting away from the suspicious location of the bathroom.

0o0

_An Advanced Guide to Wandless Magic_, _Verbal and Nonverbal Curses_, _Bewitched: A Beginners Guide_, _Magics of the Heart_, and other similar texts lay scattered over a library table occupied only by Tom, his eyes scanning the small text of _A_ _Beginners Guide to Magical Travel_. Tossing the book aside with an exasperated grunt after several long minutes, he pulled _Floo Powder: Convenient or Convoluted?_ toward him, and flipped through the pages to the index. The index, however, proved useless, and the book was tossed aside even faster than the last.

Placing his head in his hands, Tom did not notice a certain person making their way over to his table. Sebastian slid into the seat across from Tom, eyeing the books with a strong curiosity gleaming in his pale eyes. Raising a fair hand, he picked up one of the many thick tomes and opened it, flipping through the pages slowly, green eyes flickering over the text.

"What is all this?" he asked Tom, gesturing to the obvious sighs of research. Tom raised his head off of his hands, eyes searching Sebastian's face for any sign of mockery. Seeing none, he replied, trying to sound as casual as possible, "Just some research. It's nothing to be concerned about."

"Nothing to be concerned about?" Sebastian repeated with shock apparent in his tone. "I've never seen you be so engrossed in any sort of research before. This is a first time thing, Tom. I know I have _something_ to be concerned about."

The Malfoy heir gazed over at Tom for a long moment before pulling one of the many books toward him and flipping through to the index. "Wandless magic? Nonverbal charms?" he asked with disbelief, flipping through a couple more pages. "What is all this about?"

"It's nothing, Sebastian." Tom's voice had hardened considerably. "If you want to know anything, then you'll just have to wait for Wednesday night. I will inform you, as well as the others, of what I need done at that time."

A slight frown creased Sebastian's face, but it disappeared almost as fast as it had appeared. "As you wish, my Lord." he replied matter-of-factly, inclining his head respectfully toward Tom. Raising himself out of his chair, he swept away from the table with all the grace befitting a Malfoy, leaving Tom alone to peruse through his books once more.

Time passed even more slowly after Sebastian had left, and Tom's research was not proving in the least bit fruitful. There was not even the slightest bit of information that aroused a second glance, and the research soon turned to boredom in which Tom was left staring off at a blank stretch of wall, thoughts drifting toward other matters. His gaze eventually trailed over to the restricted section, where some other probable research material stood untouched. He'd be getting in there soon, though. A note from a too easily trusting professor would do the trick well. He had some unfinished business on a much larger topic in the restricted section, after all, and after his summer excursion he couldn't wait to put his planning and careful study to the test.

A/N: This wasn't the real end of the chapter, as I had always intended to write more. I guess it will have to do, though. I'd like to apologize to all my readers for the time it has taken for me to post this, and also for not being able to continue this story. I want to so much, since writing it has been just as interesting as reading it. Maybe someday I'll continue this, but for now I'm going to have to discontinue. I've grown out of Harry Potter fanfiction over the last couple years, and honestly just no longer find it as interesting as I once did. If I write anything from here on, it'll be one-shots since there is no ongoing commitment with those. Once again, I'm sorry everyone! Your reviews have made me one happy writer, and got me this far. So thank you for this awesome experience!


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